By Jorge Casuso

May 21, 2013 -- Santa Monica Place has won the 2013 Best-of-the-Best VIVA Global Design and Development Award for its ambitious redevelopment of the indoor mall designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry in 1980.

Presented by the International Council of Shopping Centers, the award recognizes the redesigned mall that reopened in August 2010 as one of the world’s most outstanding examples of shopping center design and development, marketing sustainability and community service.

"We purchased Santa Monica Place in 1999 recognizing it had to be repositioned and reinvented to better tie into the adjacent Third Street Promenade, an open-air shopping and dining district," said Art Coppola, Chairman and CEO of Macerich.

"Our vision was to completely transform the property from a traditional mall into a new world-class outdoor destination that would attract the world's top retailers,” Coppola said. “That's exactly what we have accomplished."

The ambitious 28-month makeover literally turned Gehry’s air-conditioned, in-door mall literally inside out. It ripped off the roof, tore out the entrance doors facing the Third Street Promenade and connected the mall to the thriving strip with an open-air courtyard.

It also replaced the food court that greeted Promenade pedestrians with an open-air rooftop dining deck facing the Pacific.

Upscale retailers and restaurants -- anchored by Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom – quickly filled the state-of the art 550,000-square-foot environmentally friendly structure built on the steel skeleton of the former indoor mall.
The redeveloped open-air mall was certified LEED Gold last year and was recognized with a Sustainability award earlier this year from the Chamber of Commerce, Sustainable Works and the City of Santa Monica's Office of Sustainability and the Environment.

The Environmental award recognized Santa Monica Place for reducing or offseting more than 3 million kWh from its 104 kW photovoltaic plant, implementing energy management systems and purchasing green power, among other green efforts.

"From the overwhelming reception at its opening weekend to the sustained performance of this exceptional shopping center, Santa Monica Place has met everyone's expectations for creating value -- for us, for retailers and for the community," said Randy Brant, executive vice president of real estate for Macerich.

"It is gratifying to have fostered a project that succeeds at so many levels," Brant said.

Since its opening, Santa Monica Place’s redesign has reaped awards from more than half a dozen organizations and institutions.