DeSoto Square Mall
Mall entrance in November 2020
LocationBradenton, Florida, United States
Coordinates27°27′57″N 82°34′00″W / 27.4657°N 82.5668°W / 27.4657; -82.5668
Address303 301 Boulevard West
Opening dateAugust 15, 1973 (1973-08-15)
Closing dateApril 30, 2021
DeveloperEdward J. DeBartolo, Sr.
ManagementDave Marcinko
OwnerMadison Properties
No. of stores and services30+
No. of anchor tenants4 (1 open, 3 vacant)
Total retail floor area678,000 square feet (63,000 m2)[1]
No. of floors1

DeSoto Square Mall was an enclosed shopping mall serving Bradenton, Florida, United States. It was built in 1973 and permanently closed on April 30, 2021. One lone anchor store, Hudson's Furniture, remains open.

History

In November 1971, Bradenton Mall Corporation bought 100 acres (0.40 km2) along US 301 and Cortez Road for $1.6 million from 32 property owners. Bradenton's mayor, A.K. Leach, was concerned that the mall which was outside of city limits would impact retailers in the downtown area but he thought they would be able to manage through it.[2]

The center was built by Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation in 1973. It was originally planned to be called Bradenton Mall, but the name was determined unacceptable by city officials because the mall was not located within city limits. The company decided to change the name to DeSoto Square Mall in response. A spokesman for DeBartolo corporation said the corporation thought it would identify more with the local community because of the annual DeSoto Celebration.[3] Richard Turner, the president of the Manatee County Conquistador Group, suggested the name as he thought it would draw more attention to the celebration.[4]

The mall had its grand opening on August 15, 1973, with about 37 shops open.[5] At the time of its opening, the mall had three planned anchor stores: Sears, JCPenney and Maas Brothers. JCPenney did not initially open in August 1973 and instead opened in January 1974 as the last pre-planned anchor store to open. During the mall's initial opening, Piccadilly Cafeteria opened and remained until May 2003. Cafeterias were popular in shopping malls prior to food courts replacing them. A Montgomery-Roberts department store was added in November 1973.[4]

Future president Ronald Reagan visited the mall on February 26, 1976, while campaigning for president that year.[6] Parking facilities would be expanded in 1978 which led to the demolition of the Suncoast Motel.[7] The motel was originally named Pike's Court and opened in 1953 with Leonard and Edith Pike owning it. The motel was sold in 1956 to Mary Biggs who renamed it to Suncoast Motel.[8] Belk-Lindsey was added as a fourth anchor in June of 1979, after having been evicted from a nearby store at Cortez Plaza.[9]

Burdines expressed interest in opening a store at DeSoto Square as early as 1979,[10] though they did not join the mall until 1991 when the company merged with Maas Brothers. The Maas Brothers store was officially rebranded as Burdines on October 20, 1991.[11] A year later, Belk sold its store in the mall to Dillard's.[12] During the late 1980s, there would be "talk about adding a food court" but nothing materialized. A food court named Port O'Call with a tropical theme opened in April 1997. During the opening ceremony, Dawn Wells who played the character Mary Ann on the television show Gilligan's Island appeared as a judge for a contest for who could dress the best as a castaway from the show.[4] Old Navy was added in 2000.[13] Burdines was renamed Burdines-Macy's on January 30, 2004 as the brands were merged by their parent company. On March 6, 2005, the Burdines name was officially dropped and the stores were fully merged into Macy's.[14]

Several stores closed in 2009 due to the Great Recession, including Old Navy, Foot Locker, Waldenbooks and the Dillard's anchor.[15] The Old Navy space became a family entertainment center called Saturn 5 in 2010.[16]

In May 2012, Simon Property Group (which bought out DeBartolo in 1996) announced plans to sell the mall.[17] In November of that year, Mason Asset Management acquired the mall for $25 million.[18] Macy's announced the closure of its store at the mall in July 2014, as they relocated to the Mall at University Town Center.[19] The theater closed a month later.[20] In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at DeSoto Square Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties.[21] Mason Asset Management sold the mall for $25.5 million to New York-based Meyer Lebovitz in March 2017.[22] Lebovitz owned DeSoto Owners LLC.[23] Lebovitz chose Madison Properties USA LLC for the task of redeveloping and leasing the mall. Jerrell M. Davis, president of the Madison Properties Southeast Region, oversaw the project.[22] The mall was used by FEMA as a disaster recovery center after Hurricane Irma hit Florida in September 2017.[24]

In January 2018, Your Treasure House, a retail store and auction house, opened on the first floor of the former Macy's location.[25] In July 2018, it was briefly rebranded as "Midtown DeSoto Square Mall",[26] as part of plans to renovate and expand the mall. When those plans fell apart, the rebranding was dropped.[27] Sears announced on October 15, 2018, that it would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide.[28]

Your Treasure House closed in late 2019 leaving the former Macy's space vacant again. On December 13, 2019, it was announced that the former Sears would be converted to a self-storage facility.[29] The mall went into default on its mortgage on January 20, 2020, and a judgement of foreclosure of $29.3 million was given.[30] JCPenney announced on June 4 that it was closing on October 18 as part of a plan to close 154 stores nationwide which left Hudson's Furniture as the only anchor left.[31][32] A foreclosure sale was originally scheduled to occur on September 23 but DeSoto Owners LLC filed bankruptcy a day prior to the sale.[30]

On April 29, 2021, it was announced that the mall would officially close the next day, April 30, 2021.[33] At the time of its closure, there were 4 stores operating in the mall.[34] Sometime prior to the mall's closing, DeSoto Owners LLC filed for bankruptcy again to try to restructure the company's finances and give themselves more time.[30]

Anchors

Store Opened Notes
Anchor stores
Hudson's Furniture 2014 Previously built as Belk / Leasehold Sold to Dillard's
Vacant Anchor Space #1 — Previously Sears, to be converted to a self-storage facility
Vacant Anchor Space #2 — Previously JCPenney
Vacant Anchor Space #3 — Previously Mass Brother/ then Burdines renamed to Macy's/ most recent Your Treasure House Auction

Former anchors

References

  1. ↑ "Local Mall Leasing". simon. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ Laura, Finaldi (November 27, 2021). "Florida mall, once the 'place to be,' fades into oblivion". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 4, 2022 – via Associated Press.
  3. ↑ "DeSoto Square Mall Just Almost Had Another Name". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. August 15, 1973. p. 33. Retrieved December 22, 2015 – via Google News Archive.
  4. 1 2 3 Finaldi, Laura (November 18, 2021). "Trajectory of a mall's life: DeSoto Square Mall, once the 'place to be' in Manatee, fades to oblivion". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  5. ↑ Royer, Jackie (August 16, 1973). "DeSoto Square Mall Opens Doors". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved July 14, 2016 – via Google News Archive Search.
  6. ↑ "Ronald Reagan". cdm16681.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Suncoast Motel" (TIFF). Manatee County Public Library System: Digital Collection (Postcard). Aurora Post Card Company. 1960–1970. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Pike's Court, U.S. 301, South of Bradenton" (TIFF). Manatee County Public Library System: Digital Collection (Postcard). E.B. Thomas. 1953–1956. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  9. ↑ Winn, Sherry (April 7, 1979). "Testimony Continues in Eviction Trial". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved December 22, 2015 – via Google News Archive Search.
  10. ↑ "Budines Eyes DeSoto Square". Sarasota Journal. March 7, 1979. p. 8. Retrieved December 22, 2015 – via Google News Archive.
  11. ↑ Lisicki, Michael J. (2015). Remembering Maas Brothers. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-1473-8.
  12. ↑ "3 Belk Lindsey stores sold to Dillard". pqasb.pqarchiver.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Old Navy to join DeSoto Square Mall". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. August 2, 2000. Retrieved December 22, 2015 – via Google News Archive Search.
  14. ↑ Mitchell, Anne (January 27, 2004). "Burdines stores get renamed Friday". News-Press. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Retailers open in Desoto Square". bradenton. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Hot this week: Family entertainment center officially opens". HeraldTribune.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  17. ↑ "DeSoto Square Mall appears set to change hands". HeraldTribune.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  18. ↑ Salman, Josh (November 20, 2012). "DeSoto Square mall in Bradenton is sold". Bradenton Herald. Archived from the original on March 4, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Macy's closing DeSoto Square store in". bradenton. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  20. ↑ comments, Movie theater closes in DeSoto Square Mall 0. "Movie theater closes in DeSoto Square Mall". Sarasota News | Mysuncoast.com and ABC 7. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ↑ "At DeSoto Square | Seritage". Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  22. 1 2 O'Dea, Janelle (March 28, 2017). "Plans for DeSoto Square include $7 million investment". Bradenton Herald. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  23. ↑ "DeSoto Square Mall sold for $25.5 million". Business Observer. March 28, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
  24. ↑ Finaldi, Laura (July 2, 2018). "A new chapter for DeSoto Square". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
  25. ↑ Menderski, Maggie (January 30, 2018). "Old DeSoto Square Macy's reopens as resale store, auction house". Sarasota Herald Tribune. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  26. ↑ Finaldi, Laura (July 2, 2018). "A new chapter for DeSoto Square". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Plans for Bradenton's DeSoto Square Mall filed". Archived from the original on May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  28. ↑ Bradenton Herald (subscription required)
  29. ↑ Finaldi, Laura. "Former Bradenton Sears being converted into self-storage". Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
  30. 1 2 3 Llovio, Louis (October 22, 2021). "Sale of shuttered mall approved by federal judge". Business Observer. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
  31. ↑ "JCPenney Store Closings". June 4, 2020.
  32. ↑ "JCPenney closing at DeSoto Square Mall in Manatee County".
  33. ↑ Bradenton Herald (subscription required)
  34. ↑ Angers, Angie (April 30, 2021). "After nearly 50 years, DeSoto Square Mall closes its doors for good". Bay News 9. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
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