UPDATE: University Mall Set To Become Multi-Story, Urban Neighborhood Development
UPDATE: “The approximately 100-acre Uptown project will become a multi-story, urban neighborhood development showcasing life sciences and technology research institutes and complexes; retail, placemaking, and recreational opportunities and entertainment; hospitality; education; medical specialties, clinics, and pavilions; corporate offices and co-working spaces; and residential and other related uses. Our local Tampa team led by Chris Bowen, RD Management’s Chief Development Strategist, is working day-in and day-out on site and is fully committed to the property’s transformation from a traditional, enclosed mall into a vibrant, mixed-use city center. As part of the mall’s revitalization, it is our intention to include all existing tenants and incorporate many of the property’s current structures, including the parking garage, into the final product. Our existing tenants have served the Tampa community for years and will undoubtedly continue to add value alongside new businesses. We look forward to sharing new exciting announcements on Uptown in the coming months.” – Richard Birdoff, Principal and President of RD Management
Original Story: Hurry and get your favorites from University Mall because soon enough it will be closed!
According to the Tampa Bay Times In the early 1970s, the Tampa mall was the place to be, but it hasn’t been that way for decades. Nearly every major anchor store has left, leaving thousands of square feet of empty retail boxes the latest being Sears, which announced last month it would close by November.
The closing of Sears was actually good news for the owners!
Via the Tampa Bay Times:
That was good news for RD Management, the New York firm that bought the struggling mall near the University of South Florida’s main campus just under four years ago. The project’s chief development strategist, Chris Bowen, has had ideas percolating for the Sears space — and none were for it to remain a retail chain.
“Malls are going away,” he said. “What we are creating is the future.”
The next anchors at the 100-acre property will be research institutes and dynamic office and co-working spaces, he said while sitting in a jewelry store he outfitted to be a sleek conference room inside the mall he plans to make a “research village.”
For now, University Mall — which the developers call Tampa’s future Uptown district — is stuck at an in-between phase.
It’s not derelict, but far from buzzing.
In February, the firm said it would release a $1 billion development plan that has yet to go public, though Bowen has been open about his general plans.
“We’re basically creating a city within an existing city,” he said.
