Ashkenazy goes retail-to-entertainment at River Walk mall

Can a retail-to-raucous conversion save a historic anchor of downtown retail in San Antonio?

New York-based investor Ben Ashkenazy is fixing to find out with a makeover of the Shops at Rivercenter, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

His Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation is hoping to revive foot traffic at the 1 million-square-foot indoor mall with a lineup of tenants offering everything from climbing walls and shark tanks to arcade games and Lego sessions.

How serious is the retail-to-entertainment plan? An entertainment tenant is expected to start filling the former Macy’s space at the mall. And foodies won’t be overlooked in the effort, with local celebrity chef Jason Dady lined up to reimagine the food court, which will no doubt move upscale to status as a “food hall.”

“It’s the next step in redefining the center’s transition from what was a traditional retail shopping mall into what it is today — a premier entertainment experience and destination,” Joe Press, chief operating officer of Ashkenazy Acquisition, said of the move to enlist Dady in the plan.

A key to the strategy is entertainment options that will spur night-time crowds. That includes visitors in town for events at the Alamo and Henry B. González Convention Center, a powerful magnet that accounts for more than 13 million visitors a year, and the adjacent 1,000-room Marriott Rivercenter.

“I want to turn this area into its own entertainment district,” Jerry Wiggins, who manages Rivercenter for Ashkenazy, told the outlet.

Rivercenter is 36 years old and has been under various owners since it was developed as a joint venture of the city and Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation. It went to a group of investors backed by a pension fund in 1993, and Ashkenazy bought it for $101 million in 2005, according to a lawsuit involving Marriott Corporation and former mall owner Keystone-Texas Property Holding Corporation. 

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Sales and foot traffic have recently surpassed pre-pandemic levels, and the occupancy rate for the mall’s 725,000 square feet of leasable space is now north of 90 percent, according to the landlord. Traffic is about evenly split between locals and tourists, an Ashkenazy representative said.

The developer’s cheery outlook for the makeover of the mall in San Antonio comes as it faces headwinds on several projects in its hometown of New York.