Today, October 21, is known among fans as “Back to the Future Day,” marking the future date that Marty McFly, Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown, and Jennifer Parker time travel in the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II. This year’s observance comes as a Southern California mall associated with the franchise faces an uncertain future of its own.
A proposal has been submitted that, if approved, would redevelop the largely vacant Puente Hills Mall, the exterior location for the fictional Twin Pines Mall in the original 1985 Back to the Future movie, in the City of Industry into an industrial complex containing two warehouses, a bus transit station and a 10-megawatt data center. The data center remains a proposal and has not been approved or built. In one of the film’s best-known sequences, teenager Marty McFly meets scientist Doc Brown in the mall parking lot, where Doc demonstrates the time machine he’s built from a DeLorean.
The Puente Hills shopping center, which opened in the 1970s, has since experienced declining retail activity and is now largely vacant. Its remaining attractions include an AMC movie theater and Round1, an entertainment venue offering bowling, arcade games, and other activities. However, despite its dwindling footfall, the site continues to attract fans because of its connection to the movie.
The property was acquired in 2024 for a reported $115 million by an ownership group connected to RCB Equities and Real Estate Development Associates, known as REDA. The project description outlines two options for redeveloping the site. The first would create an industrial development consisting of two warehouses, with the option for one of the buildings to instead be a data center.
The second would combine industrial and commercial development, with either a warehouse or a warehouse and data center alongside multiple new commercial buildings. The project would also include a new bus transit station, surface parking and landscaping. Newsweek has contacted REDA and the City of Industry for comment.
According to local press coverage, residents of neighboring communities, including Rowland Heights, have joined a broader regional campaign against the proposal led by the No Data Centers San Gabriel Valley coalition. Opponents say that the development could increase demand for electricity and water, produce continuous equipment noise, and add air pollution through construction, traffic, and diesel-powered backup generators. Some have also questioned whether infrastructure costs could eventually be passed to local electricity and water customers.
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