Abella Center formerly International Marketplace and originally El Portal Shopping Center is a mixed-use city services, business, shopping center and housing village

transit-oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of Real estate development, urban development that maximizes the amount of Residential area, residential, business and leisure space within Pedestrian, walking distance of public t ...

that was formerly a mall in

San Pablo, California San Pablo (Spanish language, Spanish for "Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul") is an enclave city in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 census. The current mayor is P ...

History

Origins

The mall opened in the 1960s anchored originally by Simon's Department store which later became a

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty product ...

department store,

HomeBase Homebase was a British Home improvement center, home improvement and garden centre retailer that operated across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded by British supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Belgian retailer GIB Group, GB-Inno ...

home improvement store and

Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...

supermarket. The mall declined with the exit of Safeway in the 1990s, relocation of Mervyn's to the new Pinole Vista Shopping Center and the bankruptcy of and closure of Home Base stores. The mall began to decline due to its relative distance from the freeway entrances and exits along Interstate 80 even though the highway passes very close by. This decline was also compromised by the rise of the giant Hilltop Mall Shopping Center in nearby

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Redevelopment

In the early 2000s the city began a redevelopment plan to revitalize the shopping center with a consulting firm specialized in reviving dead shopping malls. The commercial center was rebranded International Marketplace and touted as an ethnic niche destination shopping area. The former Safeway was remodeled and reopened as an

Asian Supermarket In non-Asian countries, an Asian supermarket largely describes a category of grocery stores that focuses and stocks items and products imported from countries located in the Far East (e.g. East Asia, East, Southeast Asia, Southeast and South Asia ...

. The ex Home Base location was edited into a two-story shopping bazaar with small shop locations. The department store spot and portions of the eastern edge of the mall were demolished and combined with the new business zone as a mixed-use urban village with apartments, condominiums, and attached single-family homes called Abella. A gateway was built over San Pablo Avenue with the name of the center. The city also added its city hall to the center and attracted the

Contra Costa County Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

social services department and library locations to the marketplace. The project was criticized for not displaying "San Pablo" on the archway over the avenue. The city of San Pablo began hosting public events here such as halloween events.

Re-creation

By the late 2000s the city became frustrated with high vacancies and the inability of the consulting firm to attract a multiplex movie theater as promised and henceforth fired the firm. The San Pablo City Council approved a new plan demolishing more of the shopping center, adding a strip of restaurant and commuter services along San Pablo Avenue and more housing better connected with the rest of the development. At this point the city changed the signage on the gateway to state "Welcome to San Pablo" and renamed the mall to Abella Shopping Center.

Neighborhood

Abella is located adjacent to

Contra Costa College Contra Costa College is a public community college in San Pablo, California, United States. It is the west campus of the Contra Costa Community College District. It is part of the California community colleges system, one of the three college s ...

and its transit center and has feeder, commuter, student, and late night service from

AC Transit AC Transit is the main Public transport bus service, bus transit operator in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. AC Transit is the third largest bus operator in California, serving the western portions of Alameda and C ...

bus lines 71, 72, 72R, 74, 76, 376, 607, 609, 669, 673, 674, 676, 677, and 679 these lines connect the center with the surrounding areas including

and El Cerrito del Norte

BART stations Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a heavy rail rapid transit system in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. With average weekday ridership around passengers in , BART is the fifth busiest rapid transit system in the United S ...

. There is a BRT station at San Pablo Avenue and the Abella Center. There is also the addition of

WestCat WestCAT is a public transportation service in western Contra Costa County (north of Alameda County, California, Alameda County). It is a service of the Western Contra Costa Transit Authority. Contra Costa County has four public bus transportation ...

services on line C3.C3 schedule
. WestCat website. 2011. Retrieved 04-06-2011. The city has rebranded the area as the "Abella District".

Notes

{{Shopping malls in California San Pablo, California Shopping malls in the San Francisco Bay Area Shopping malls in Contra Costa County, California