Arizona Contractor & Community Fall 2015 V4 I3 | Page 64

Top: Rodeo queen roping Bob Malcolm to promote Malcolm's department store, 1961. Right: Maryvale Shopping City sign, created by Myres-Leiber Sign Company, 1961. Sixty four soccer field; the Maryvale Cinema became a dollar-movie venue. The mall’s decline continued until it was almost vacant by the mid-1990s. John F. Long sold the mall, no longer attractive as retail space, to the Cartwright School District at a discounted price. The district converted parts of the mall into the Mark T. Atkinson Middle School, which opened in 2000, and the Bret R. Tarver Elementary School, which opened in 2001. The former Mervyn’s wing was demolished to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Today, the Maryvale Shopping Center exists only in memories. ”Maryvale was a wonderful place to live,” Heath reflects. “John F. Long created this community and I will always be grateful for his vision and passion.” Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community at Thomas Road and 75th Avenue, was a major blow to Maryvale Mall. John F. Long fought against the new mall’s rezoning request at Phoenix Planning Commission hearings in 1978, instead arguing for expansion of his Maryvale Mall. Long gave his supporters’ free sandwiches and a bus ride to the hearings, but it wasn’t enough to deny Westcor’s rezoning request. The combination of the new Westridge Mall, changing demographics, and Maryvale’s escalating crime rates increased the mall’s vacancy rate. Once anchored by upscale department stores, Maryvale Mall featured a Target discount store, the Maryvale Pride Pavilion indoor Fall 2015