College Square

Cedar Rapids-based General Management, later known as General Growth Properties, developed College Square Mall, breaking ground in 1968 on a University Avenue site southeast of downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa, then along U.S. Route 218. Architect Derwood Quade designed the property, which opened November 12, 1969, as the largest shopping mall in Iowa at the time, with roughly 600,000 sqft of retail space and original anchors Woolco, Montgomery Ward and Younkers.

At roughly 552,884 sqft, the property currently operates as The Mall at College Square, anchored by Ashley Furniture, Hy-Vee, Planet Fitness and Von Maur, none of which were part of the original 1969 anchor lineup. Local businessman Jon Davis owns the property, sold to him by General Growth Properties in 2021.

American Eagle and Buckle carry fashion among the roughly 50-plus stores, with Bath & Body Works and LensCrafters rounding out the beauty and eyewear tenants; Panera Bread is among the property’s food and beverage tenants.

That complete anchor turnover, not one of the three original 1969 department stores (Woolco, Montgomery Ward, Younkers) still present, paired with a shift toward furniture, grocery, fitness and a genuine department store (Von Maur) rather than the original discount/catalog-store format, reflects how thoroughly this Iowa mall’s anchor strategy has been rebuilt from scratch: General Growth Properties owned the property for most of its history before selling to current owner Jon Davis in 2021, meaning even the recent shift to local ownership is a relatively new chapter rather than a continuous thread running back to 1969.