The address is still 201 Sharpstown Center, even though the signs have said PlazAmericas since 2010. The mall at U.S. 59 and Bellaire Boulevard has worn three names and kept going through all of them.
It opened in 1961 as Houston‘s first enclosed, air-conditioned mall. A stock-fraud scandal took down its builder in 1971. Foreclosure came in 2001, Chapter 11 in 2008, and hurricane damage the same year.
At the bottom, the roof leaked, the food court had one vendor, and storefronts sat vacant. Then a $10 million rebrand aimed the place at its Hispanic trade area, and occupancy doubled in three years…