It sits across the Glenn Highway from and supplements the Northway Mall, a central shopping area in Anchorage since its development during the early 1980s.

[3] During the same time period, urban renewal in Mountain View to the north of the centre saw large-scale construction of new housing, in some cases replacing homes built during the early development of the neighbourhood in the 1940s.

Just a few miles east of the center, construction of the much larger Tikahtnu Commons began in 2007 with the state's first Target store.

In the years following, Tikahtnu Commons pulled many potential leases away from Glenn Square and in 2011 the center was still largely vacant.

[5] A major aspect of the center's plans was a 12 screen Century Theater which was to be the chain's second Anchorage location,[6] but when plans for competitor Regal Cinemas to build a 16 screen multiplex at Tikahtnu Commons were discovered, the company pulled out, which was a major blow to the project.