Normandale Shopping Center in Montgomery, Alabama had no roof over the middle, and that was the point. Dedicated on September 10, 1954, at what is now 500 East Patton Avenue, it had 29 stores, covered walkways, and parking fields out front.
Loveman’s took 84,000 square feet on two levels. A 1957 arcade pushed the complex to 325,000 square feet and about 50 tenants.
Enclosed malls arrived in 1970 and 1977 and took the trade east. Loveman’s closed in 1981. By 1997 the center was 42 percent leased, and it sold in 1998 for $2.4 million and again in 2008 for $1.8 million…