JP Realty developed Provo Towne Centre, opening in 1998 in Provo, Utah, a project that triggered a lawsuit against the city of Orem over incentives meant to keep ZCMI from relocating out of the competing University Mall; the Provo city council had separately wanted the developer to call the new property “Utah Valley Towne Centre” instead. JCPenney relocated from University Mall to anchor the new center at opening. General Growth Properties acquired the mall in 2002 as part of a broader JP Realty portfolio purchase, and the 2008 MTV film “American Mall” was shot on site.
Brixton Capital bought the property in February 2016 and has pursued an active repositioning strategy since: Sears closed in July 2017, with its space partially repurposed from late 2020 as Automotive Addiction, an automobile museum and event venue occupying the vacated first floor. Dillard’s closed at the end of May 2022, relocating to a new store at University Place in Orem; Brixton separately acquired the vacated 206,240 sqft, two-story Dillard’s building and land in March 2022, giving it full ownership of the site, and renovated the space into a new Target store with a soft opening April 9, 2024, and grand opening five days later.
At roughly 801,601 sqft, the property currently carries JCPenney, Target, Cinemark and Automotive Addiction as its primary anchors, alongside roughly 74 stores and services. A Towne Centre Boulevard station on the UVX bus rapid transit line, connecting Provo and Orem, opened on the mall’s east side near JCPenney in August 2018. JLL manages the property on Brixton’s behalf.
Brixton has announced an approximately $80 million broader repositioning plan for the site, including a 100-room Marriott Residence Inn, a 30,000 sqft dining district, two additional restaurant spaces, a 100,000 sqft office tower, 200 residential units and a new outdoor park, with the company working with the City of Provo to finalize the redevelopment; that plan, first announced in 2017, illustrates how thoroughly this property has shifted from a conventional enclosed mall toward a genuinely mixed-use district built around its remaining anchor tenants rather than a full department-store lineup.
