KENNEDY MALL

KENNEDY MALL. Second of the major shopping centers in Dubuque and the first enclosed climate-controlled mall in Iowa. The west-side shopping center formally opened on April 15, 1970. With sixty-stores, Kennedy Mall became Iowa's largest enclosed shopping center.

Kennedy Mall was the first climate controlled mall in the state of Iowa. In 1964, Montgomery Ward announced that it would move its store in Dubuque, which was located in the downtown area, out to the west end. In February 1966, rezoning of the land on which the mall was built was approved. William M. Cafaro and Associates (now Cafaro Company) of Youngstown, Ohio developed the site.

In the fall of 1968, Younkers was opened. This was followed by Montgomery Ward in the spring of 1969, and Roshek's followed in the fall of 1970. The mall was formally opened on April 15, 1970, with F. W. Woolworth Company operating as a junior anchor. At the time, it had sixty stores, which made it Iowa's largest enclosed mall. Soon afterwards, a tornado had damaged the Dubuque area, which included the mall.

Today, Younkers is the only remaining original anchor store to still operate a store at the Mall. Roshek's closed its mall store in 1982, and Montgomery Ward followed suit in May 1983. J.C. Penney moved from its downtown location into the space that had been previously occupied by Wards. Armstrong Department Stores of Cedar Rapids, Iowa moved into the space previously occupied by Roshek's. In the late 1980s, Armstrong's ceased operations even though the Dubuque store was profitable. At that point, Sears decided to move their store from the south end of Dubuque to Kennedy Mall. They took over the southern half of the store. Younker's eventually decided to expand, and moved their men's and houseware departments into the northern half of the building. Today, Sears, Borders, J.C. Penney, and Younkers make up the anchor stores to Kennedy Mall.

There are about 15 tenants in total who have been at Kennedy Mall since the mall opened. Bishop's Buffet was one of these original tenants. Even though the Bishop's Buffet has changed hands several times over the years, the restaurant has remained open. Another one of the mall's original tenants; Musicland; closed up by February 2006.

In the late 1980s, a number of renovations were made to the mall, after another tornado struck in 1989. This included opening up a food court at the northeast corner of the mall. It also included a number of cosmetic improvements to the mall.

Originally, there was a General Cinema movie theater with a single 795-seat auditorium located within the mall, near Roshek's. In 1972 it was remodeled into a two-screen theater with about 300 seats in each auditorium. In the 1980s General Cinema built a new six-screen theater named Kennedy Mall Cinema 6 in the parking lot west of the mall to replace the theater inside the mall. The theater later changed hands. The theater was taken over by Carmike Cinemas Inc. After a new Star Cinema was built in Dubuque in 2005, the existing theater changed its format - it began showing second run movies at a reduced rate instead of new films. In May 2007, Carmike Cinemas decided not to renew its lease, and closed the Kennedy Mall Cinema 6.

Part of the northeast corner of the mall was torn down and rebuilt to accommodate a new Borders book store. This new book store took over most of what had been the food court area and the mall's Sam Goody store.

Best Buy obtained part of the south east parking lot, which was originally overflow parking, and built their own store at that location.

For many years Walgreens operated a store at Kennedy Mall. This store, with both interior and exterior entrances sat between the Bishop's Buffet and J.C. Penney store. In 2005 the company built a new, free standing store about 1/2 mile away at 55 JFK Road. When the new store was opened in late 2005 the company closed the existing store at the mall.

In April 2007, the Cafaro Company announced that it was moving forward with plans to renovate Kennedy Mall. The project was be completed in two phases, with work beginning in 2007. Changes to the mall included the replacement of floors, entrances, landscaping, and parking lots. Also, skylights will be installed, and the east front of the mall was be re-configured to allow more stores to face Wacker Drive. The first phase was estimated to cost an estimated $2.9 million.

As part of the plan, the mall's center water fountain was removed to make room for retail space. The fountain had not be active in years. Many of the 37-year old mall's parking lots, sidewalks, light posts, signage, landscaping, and exterior walls were in disrepair. Redesigning included placing islands throughout the parking lot to traffic and allow for plantings of shrubs and trees. A new children's play area, sponsored by The FINLEY HOSPITAL, was opened by late June 2008. The upcoming work will only be the second significant renovation in the 37 years the mall has been open.

Brochure showing the original stores in Kennedy Mall. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding