In 1997, Hard Rock Cafe opened their first Sacramento restaurant at the east end of the mall where America Live!

The restaurant operated for 13 years before closing in 2010[2] (a second incarnation of the Hard Rock Cafe Sacramento opened in 2019 as part of the grand opening of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain near Wheatland, California in Yuba County).

Initially, the section between 4th and 5th Streets, which included Macy's, Century Theatres, Forever 21, Starbucks, Johnny Rockets, the food court and local restaurant River City Brewing Company, was to remain open during demolition and construction, but in 2015, it too was permanently closed (except for Macy's and Century Theatres) so renovations on the remaining standing section can begin.

[7] The Kimpton Sawyer Hotel opened on October 10, 2017 on the site of the property's former low-rise office building.

While this section remained two levels, the portion of the center from 5th to 7th Streets returned to a single-level open-air plaza configuration.

[8] The Sacramento Kings have built an arena where the eastern two-thirds of the former Downtown Plaza was located (the section between 5th and 7th Streets).

[12] The Men's and Furniture departments were then consolidated into the main Macy's store at the west end of the mall.

[13] The building that houses 24 Hour Fitness was left intact, unaffected by the mall-wide closure and demolition and remains open.

The section between 4th and 5th Streets was initially going to remain open during construction, but instead was also slated to be renovated in association with construction of Golden 1 Center; tenants in that section, except for Macy's and Century Theatres, which remained open at the time, vacated the mall sometime between June and September 2015.