The mall is built on what was once a triangle of land, then on the outskirts of town, prone to flooding in the spring, said Allston. In 1951, real estate developer Harold Shenkman acquired his first Westgate parcel for $21,000 and an adjoining parcel for $42,000 a year later, intending to build a 25-store shopping mall at a cost of $750,000, originally to be completed by the spring of 1953.