University Mall, previously University Square Mall, is a shopping mall located near the University of South Florida, just north of the city limits of Tampa on Fowler Avenue; a major eight lane, east-west corridor. The property is located just east of I-275, a major north/south interstate serving Tampa and counties to the north.
Major landmarks in close proximity include:
- University of South Florida's main campus just east and is the nation's 9th largest public university with more than 47,000 students and 16,000 faculty/staff.
- Four (4) hospitals; including James Haley VA Hospital, Florida Hospital, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Shriners Hospitals for Children. In total more than 1,274 beds.
- Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI), Busch Gardens and Adventure Island. Collectively, more than 5 million people visit these attractions annually.
More than 260,000 people live and 145,000 work within five (5) miles of the mall. The mall boasts a strong retail presence and density.
Presently, the mall is anchored by Sears, Dillard's Clearance Center, Burlington Coat Factory, Grand's, and K&G Fashion Superstore. There are a wide variety of national, regional and local retailers; lending itself to many different population and demographic segments.
History
University Square Mall was officially dedicated August 15, 1974. The first anchor stores, Maas Brothers and Robinson's of Florida opened along with the mall. JCPenney came inline in October 1974. Sears, the last of the four original anchors, began business in September 1975. Burdines was added, as a fifth anchor, in 1983.
Robinson's of Florida was rebranded by Louisiana's Maison Blanche in 1988. This store, in turn, was rebranded as a Dillard's in 1991. Dillard's moved into a newly built store, built north of the original one, in November 1995. This move was accompanied by a large-scale renovation and expansion of the shopping complex, whereby the vacated Dillard's was gutted and rebuilt as new inline stores, with an upper level food court. A 16-screen Regal Cinemas adjoined the new food court. These modifications were completed in August 1996.
In 1991, Maas Brothers and Burdines were merged by their parent company. Burdines closed its original store in September 1991 and consolidated its operation into the Maas Brothers store space in October 1991. This store became a Burdines-Macy's in January 2004 and a full-fledged Macy's in March 2005. The original Burdines space then housed a Montgomery Ward between March 1992 and February 2001. The space re-opened as a Burlington Coat Factory (whose stores were not typically at malls during the time) in October 2001.
Longtime anchor JCPenney closed effective October 1, 2005 and relocated to a smaller prototype store at the Shops at Wiregrass in nearby Wesley Chapel. Steve & Barry's opened on first floor of the JCPenney spot in 2006. In October 2008, the Dillard's location in the mall was changed from a standard retail location to a clearance center, which led to the closure of the store's second floor. In January 2009, both Steve & Barry's and Starbucks closed their University Mall locations. The building that housed JCPenney and Steve & Barry's will eventually be demolished to make way for future retailers.
University Mall's tenant space is owned by LSREF2 Clover Property 18, LLC and overseen by Hudson Advisers, LLC, a global asset management company who specializes in repositioning and disposition of varied property types throughout the world. CBRE was hired in September 2012 to handle the property management and leasing. CBRE is an established leader in the commercial real estate industry and the world's largest commercial real estate company.
In August 2010, the Regal Cinemas closed. It was later pircharsed by Frank Theatres, who downgraded the theater to 12 screens.
Macy's closed in March 2017, and Dillard's Clearance Center relocated into the first floor of the former Macy's space two months later. Grand's, a Puerto Rican department store, opened in Dillard's previous location in September 2017.
Anchors
Former Anchors
- JCPenney (1974-2005)
- Maas Brothers/Burdines/Macy's (1974-2017)
- Montgomery Ward (1992-2001)
- Steve & Barry's (2006-2009)
References
External links
- University Mall official website
