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.
The Mall’s Role in ‘Back to the Future’
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.
What Is Happening to the 'Back to the Future' Puente Hills Mall?
...
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.
Why Local Residents Are Opposing the Plans
...
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.
One resident, Falynn Love, told a local news outlet that she was concerned that the surrounding communities would be “bearing the cost of these kinds of projects.” She wants the property preserved or redeveloped as a community space rather than converted into an industrial complex. Newsweek has contacted Falynn Love for comment.
The location is adding to residents’ frustration. The City of Industry is dominated by commercial and industrial land but has a very small residential population. The city says 92 percent of its developed land is industrial, and 8 percent is commercial, meaning many people affected by development decisions live outside the city and can’t, therefore, vote in City Council elections.
Mapped: San Gabriel Valley Data Centers
The dispute is part of a broader fight over data-center development across the San Gabriel Valley.
...
Community pressure helped bring temporary restrictions in El Monte, Montebello, and Baldwin Park.
In Monterey Park, opposition centered on a huge, 218,400-square-foot, proposed data center on Saturn Street. The developer eventually withdrew its application, and voters approved a ballot measure in 2026, prohibiting data centers citywide, to “protect air quality, drinking water resources and public health; prevent impacts to electricity and water rates.”
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: James Rushton, Gray R. Thomas