The Town Center Mall opened in 1980 on a site just west of Interstate 95 directly on Glades Road. The one-story mall was built by Sears subsidiary Homart Development Company as construction started with the Florida-based department storeBurdines as the first anchor in July 1979, a year before the rest of the mall. Sears also served as the mall's west end anchor, having opened within the mall on August 13, 1980 alongside Jordan Marsh as the second and third anchors. At the time of opening, the mall had 100 stores and featured a New York City theme with a round black station clock, living vegetation below a series of atriums, and several distinctive wishing fountains. The mall's opening led to Boca Raton growing west, and as a result, the city became a retail hub for southern Florida. Another anchor, Lord & Taylor, opened at center court in 1987 where Neiman Marcus was to open, followed by an expansion featuring Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue a year later, making the mall's department store mix unparalled in the country. While the Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and Sears locations remained the same throughout most of the mall's history, the other three anchor pads changed as a result of mergers, acquisitions, and relocations. Jordan Marsh was husbanded in 1991 because of Allied Stores and was converted to Mervyns in 1992, which in turn closed in 1995 and was to become Dillard's in 1997 as they took over ten Florida stores from the California retailer. However, Saks refurbished that spot for a larger store, which had a two-year construction period until 1999 including a new second floor entrance to the new parking deck. This caused the demolition of the original building to make way for another new concourse featuring Florida's first Nordstrom store, and because of this expansion in 2000, the mall was renovated. Lord & Taylor left in 2002 as part of a statewide liquidation and was torn down for Neiman Marcus, which had wanted to be in Boca since 1987 and who rebuilt the store in 2005. The Burdines store was converted to Burdines-Macy's in 2003 and then simply Macy's also in 2005. Moreover, the food court's seating was reconfigured to accommodate more people, and a Waldenbooks opened on its southern side. Mall entrances were remodeled with sun canopies and decorative towers to add exterior appeal. Parking layouts were rearranged to allow a three-story parking garage at the future Nordstrom, and a two-story garage at the recently refurbished Burdines and larger Saks with another by Bloomingdale's. A lifestyle center called The Terrace at Town Center was completed in 2007 featuring Crate & Barrel and Youfit Health Clubs. The mixed-use development is in between the expanded Bloomingdale's and the Nordstrom parking garage. In 2015, Sears Holdings spun of 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Town Center at Boca Raton, into Seritage Growth Properties. On January 4, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to shut down 103 stores nationwide, making it the mall's last original anchor to close. The store closed on April 8, 2018. A year later, Seritage Growth Properties announced plans to demolish the store for a 250,000 square foot open air complex called The Collection at Boca Town Center. It will provide shopping, dining, and entertainment similar to the lifestyle center in Aventura Mall. It is tentatively scheduled to be complete in 2020. Simon is attempting to block plans for the project stating it violates a 1985 agreement with the mall for using the space for something other than traditional retail.
In 2007, several murders at the mall drew national attention. In March, a 52-year-old woman was kidnapped and murdered. In December, a 47-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter were also kidnapped, and later found bound and shot in the head in the woman's SUV in the mall parking lot. This case was featured on America's Most Wanted and caused host John Walsh to say he believed a serial killer to be in the city. Though there is no forensic evidence to suggest the murders were committed by the same person, the similarities in the cases led police to believe they were related. In addition, a similar incident occurred at the mall in August, in which a woman and her 2-year-old son were kidnapped and tied found in the car, but left alive. To this day, the murders all remain unsolved.
2019 Active Shooter Scare
On October 13, 2019, shoppers allegedly heard quick pops reminiscent of gunfire, leading to a mall-wide panic. SWAT teams conducted grid searches across the mall, later evacuating patrons and employees on a store-by-store basis. After clearing the mall, investigators determined that there was no evidence of any gunfire, and that the only injury, other than minor injuries as results of tripping and falling in the midst of the chaos, was a trauma wound faced by a man evacuating, running into a door. Police found that the noise came from a janitor in the food court who popped a balloon stuck to his trash cart.
