Originally developed by Sheldon Gordon (co-developer of The Forum Shops at Caesars and Beverly Center), the nine-story mall opened in October 1988 as San Francisco Shopping Centre with approximately 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of space, the then-largest Nordstrom store (350,000 square feet (33,000 m2)) on the top several floors, the first spiral escalator in the United States, and a connector to the adjoining Emporium-Capwell flagship store.

[5] Designed by the Kohn Pedersen Fox architectural firm, with Kevin Kennon as the Design Principal, the mall included Bloomingdale's West Coast flagship store, a nine-screen Century Theatres multiplex theater featuring 2 XD screens, a 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) Bristol Farms gourmet supermarket, and the Downtown Campus for San Francisco State University in its 1.5 million+ ft² of space.

[6] Upon completion of the project, Forest City became an equity partner and along with Westfield assumed responsibility for day-to-day management.

[8] In 2011, the San Francisco Police Department considered putting a substation in the mall to prevent rampant shoplifting.

[11][12] In June 2023, Westfield and Brookfield announced that, due to plunging post-pandemic sales, occupancy and foot traffic at the mall, they would stop making loan payments and cede the property to their lenders.

[16] Nordstrom closed on August 27, 2023,[17] leaving Bloomingdale's as the only anchor store, at which point the mall's occupancy level had fallen to 55%.

[22] In October 2023, Gregg Williams, the principal receiver of Trident Pacific[23] (a receivership firm), was appointed by a judge to take possession, custody, and control of the mall.

[33] Throughout 2024, more stores continued to close as a result of decline, this time L'Occitane, Sephora,[34] American Eagle,[35] and Ted Baker.

[42] The basement level is directly connected to two entrances for Powell Street station, which is served by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Muni Metro trains.