The Streets at Southpoint

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The Streets at Southpoint is a shopping mall located in Durham, North Carolina, in the United States. It is located at the intersection of Interstate 40 and Fayetteville Road. After much anticipation, the Streets at Southpoint opened on March 8, 2002 and received 1 million visitors every month in its opening year. It is owned and managed by General Growth Properties and was developed by Urban Retail Properties. The mall has both an indoor and outdoor portion, and the outdoor portion features a movie theatre, Southpoint Cinemas.

Video The Streets at Southpoint

History

The Streets at Southpoint took four years of planning and over two years of construction. It opened on March 8, 2002 and had around 300,000 visitors during its first three days of operation. The mall is home to many firsts for the area, including North Carolina's first Nordstrom and Apple Store. Other stores that were new to the Research Triangle area included Aveda, California Pizza Kitchen, Hollister Co., and Pottery Barn Kids. The Streets at Southpoint was the first mall to come to the Durham area in nearly three decades. Its March opening was chosen as the most important story of the year in Durham's Top 10 Business Stories of 2002. Other popular shopping centers in the Triangle area include: Crabtree Valley Mall, Cary Towne Center, Triangle Town Center, North Hills, Crossroads Plaza, and Brier Creek Commons.

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Design

The Streets at Southpoint was designed and developed by Urban Retail Properties with an old-fashioned Main Street concept. The mall is a "hybrid mall," combining a traditional enclosed mall with an outdoor pedestrian wing. A 70-foot glass wall separates the two portions of the mall. The main stretch of the enclosed portion of the mall was dubbed Southpoint Boulevard, with each of the shops sporting a signature façade and entryway in an effort to create the Main Street feel. Other details adding to the design include imitation manhole covers, street lights, and bronze statues of children playing.

These bronze statues were created specially for the mall by the A.R.T. Design Group of Lancaster, PA. The Streets at Southpoint's developer, Jim Farrell, wanted to add to the Main Street feel by having children permanently playing throughout the mall. He enlisted A.R.T. Design Group to create statues of some of the children of local leaders. There are 23 statues in total throughout the mall and they took three years to create.

Many other small details come together in the mall to create the downtown Durham atmosphere. Over 2 million red bricks were used to line both the exterior and interior of the mall. Architects were inspired by downtown Durham and the brick façades of the buildings at UNC and on Franklin Street. Hand rails throughout the mall include pieces of maps of Durham. The food court, entitled "Fork in the Road," was inspired by old tobacco warehouses.

The Main Street feel continues to the outdoor portion of the mall, as well. The statues continue outside and are even incorporated into fountains in and outside of the mall. A 70-foot smokestack can be found at the end of the outdoor stretch of the mall in an effort to pay homage to the heritage of downtown Durham. Mature trees and shrubbery were shipped in from other locations in order to make the mall seem as if it has been in Durham for a long time. The outdoor Main Street includes larger retailers and stand-alone restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory.

Within 2012, Southpoint has turned into a more upscale-type mall with tenants including Nordstrom, Sperry Top-Sider, Cole Haan, Crate & Barrel, Michael Kors, Urban Outfitters and Vera Bradley and west Elm.

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Dining at Southpoint

California Pizza Kitchen
Champps
Chipotle Mexican Grill
The Cheesecake Factory
Firebirds Wood Fired Grill
Fork in the Road Cafes
Maggiano's Little Italy
Nordstrom Cafe Bistro
Panera Bread
Zinburger Wine and Burger Bar

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Southpoint Cinemas

Southpoint Cinemas is an AMC movie megaplex. It is made up of 56,000 square feet featuring 16 movie screens and stadium seating. The lobby of the theater features small bistro-style tables and chairs and a concession stand that serves personal pan pizzas, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, candy, and refreshments. The theater features Sony televisions and each individual theater has somewhere between 100 and 300 seats. The cinema has a total of 3,000 seats. Each theater has digital surround sound via DTS or Dolby systems. On May 20, 2011, a 6,240 square foot addition to the theater opened and revealed the cinema's new IMAX auditorium. On opening day the first 200 people in line for the 7pm show were awarded free tickets. It is the 17th screen at the theater and houses 358 seats with 24 inch faux leather rockers and 21 inch risers. The cinema is open 365 days a year.