The Metreon is a shopping center located in downtown San Francisco at the corner of 4th Street and Mission Street. It is a four-story 350,000 square foot (33,000 m²) building built over the corner of the underground Moscone Center convention center. Metreon opened on June 16, 1999, as the first of a proposed chain of Sony "urban entertainment centers", aggregating dining, gaming, music, exhibitions, shopping, and movies. Sony intended the ambitious 85 million dollar project to be not only a theme park and gallery for Sony products but a way to reinforce a hip image for the Sony brand.
In 2006 Metreon was sold to Westfield, a mall developer, and it was refashioned as a food-oriented mall. In 2011, with few exceptions, remaining businesses in the mall were closed. Westfield has announced a major renovation with an emphasis on dining, including Target Corporation creating a large downtown department store that will take up the second floor. The new center is expected to be completed by 2012.