Although no plans were revealed at the time of purchase, investigation has revealed key components.
The acquiring LLC tracks back to the owner and operator of Chinatown in Salt Lake City, Utah, a sprawling 100,000 square foot complex that includes a large Asian grocery store.
Recently, a building permit was filed to construct an Asian “Friendship Gate” in the northwest parking area of Crossroads by the same architect that built a nearly identical structure at the Salt Lake City complex.
The plans also reveal the name “Crossroads Asian Plaza” and tabs the former JC Penney building as 'Phase I'.
The same filing shows the mall and former Dillards – which the group also owns along with the associated 56.9 acres – as 'available'.
The former John A. Brown department store on the north side of the mall is under separate ownership and operates as Santa Fe South Hills Elementary. The former Montgomery Wards department store to the east is owned by a group operating Santa Fe South middle school and high school.
Located at the intersection of I-35 and I-240 in south Oklahoma City, Crossroads Mall was the first regional mall in Oklahoma when it formally opened in February of 1974. At 1.3 million total square feet, the mall hosted four department stores and nearly 100 shops and businesses.
By the 1990s, Crossroads started to decline and ultimately all the department stores closed and most of the retail shops followed. In 2013, the mall was purchased by a group planning to convert the property into a Latino-oriented mixed-use project to be called Plaza Mayor, but very little headway was made before completely shuttering the complex in 2017.