South Tamiami Trail / US 41 and Club Drive
Sarasota County, Florida
The malling of Sarasota commenced with the opening of SOUTHGATE SHOPPING PLAZA, in January 1957. A typical, L-shaped strip center, it was anchored by W.T. Grant, with Publix and Kwik Chek supermarkets at either end. J.C. Penney was added in November 1961. By the late 1970s, Burdines and Robinson's of Florida were operating in the complex, where a small enclosed section had been added in 1973. Eventually, the entire PLAZA was enclosed and climate-controlled.
The area's first bona fide shopping mall, known as GULF GATE MALL, opened between August 1965 and January 1968. It featured a Holiday junior department store, Publix supermarket and Belk-Lindsey department store.
A project known as SARASOTA MALL was proposed by the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation in February 1974 but was never built. Next in line came a concept devised by a joint venture of the Chattanooga-based Provident Life & Accident Insurance Company, Arlen Shopping Centers Company and JCP Realty (a subsidiary of the J.C. Penney Company).
Arlen had developed New Hampshire's NEWINGTON MALL (1974) and South Carolina's WESTGATE MALL (1975). Construction on SARASOTA SQUARE, its ninth Sunshine State center, got underway in February 1976. The mall, designed by Chattanooga's Humphreys & Associates firm, was built on 92.3 acres, located 7.2 miles southeast of center city Sarasota.
The first phase of SARASOTA SQUARE included two anchor stores; a 2-level (142,300 square foot), Tampa-based Maas Brothers and 2-level (130,800 square foot) J.C. Penney. Maas Brothers' store, and forty-two other tenants, began business at a preview opening held on August 4, 1977. The American Multi-Cinema Sarasota Square 6 was dedicated at this time, as was a 1-level (28,500 square foot), Miami-based J. Byron.
J.C. Penney commenced operation, as part of the official SARASOTA SQUARE grand opening, on September 28, 1977. Inline stores included Morrison's Cafeteria, Davidson Rexall Drugs, Foxmoor Casuals, Mr. Dunderbak's Bavarian Pantry, Lerner Shops and Allied Radio Shack. A second construction phase, comprised of thirty-three stores, included the completion of a 2-level (218,000 square foot) Sears, which was dedicated on October 24, 1979. The fully-realized SARASOTA SQUARE encompassed approximately 765,800 leasable square feet.
Competing shopping hubs in the SARASOTA SQUARE trade area included the aforementioned SOUTHGATE SHOPPING PLAZA {4.8 miles northwest, in Sarasota County} and GULF GATE MALL {2.1 miles northwest, also in Sarasota County}.
A second theatrical venue was built, as a freestanding structure, in the mall's northeastern periphery. The American Multi-Cinema Sarasota Square 6 East showed its first features on December 16, 1983. With its completion, the circa-1977 cinema inside the mall became the Sarasota Square 6 West. Both theaters were also promoted as the Sarasota Square 12.
J. Byron was shuttered in early 1985. Its vacancy provided the mall with the impetus to do a major face lift, which was completed in March 1986. The 7 million dollar project included the creation of the 14-bay Trellis Garden Food Court (built in the old J. Byron space) and an '80s-style update of the mall's courts and concourses.
In October 1986, a 15 million dollar enlargement of the mall was announced. Forty new stores were to be added in an East Wing. The existing Food Court would also be doubled in size. A 2-level (110,000 square foot), Birmingham-based Parisian, the chain's first Central Florida store, would anchor the addition. The expansion was dedicated with a gala grand opening held on November 1, 1989. The mall now encompassed 975,800 leasable square feet and contained 116 stores and services.
Maas Brothers morphed into a Miami-based Burdines on October 20, 1991. The Parisian chain did a retail retreat from the Central Florida market in the mid-1990s, with the SARASOTA SQUARE store closing in January 1996. Dillard's bought the building, which was opened, under the Dillard's nameplate, on March 2, 1996.
The Burdines name was gradually phased out. This process was initiated with the rebranding of all stores as Burdines-Macy's, on January 30, 2004. Stores became bona fide Macy's on March 6, 2005.
Meanwhile, Australia's Westfield had acquired SARASOTA SQUARE in October 2003. The shopping hub was soon renamed as WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN SARASOTA. In June 2005, the mall officially became WESTFIELD SARASOTA SQUARE.
On October 15, 2005, the first shovel of earth was turned for a third renovation and expansion. The 60 million dollar remodeling was in line with makeovers of properties such as WESTFIELD CENTURY CITY {Los Angeles}, WESTFIELD GARDEN STATE PLAZA {Paramus, New Jersey} and WESTFIELD SOUTHCENTER {Tukwila, Washington}.
WESTFIELD SARASOTA SQUARE was given a thorough, interior-exterior refurbishment. A new Food Court was constructed south of the circa-1989 East Wing. Moreover, two mall entrances were rebuilt, with exterior-entranced stores added. Moreover, the mall's two 6-screen cinemas were replaced. The newly-built American Multi-Cinema Sarasota Square 12 was installed south of the new Food Court and showed its first features on December 20, 2006.
The final phase of the mall's reconstruction involved the (now abandoned) 1980s-vintage food court. It was gutted, with its area rebuilt as inline stores fronting on a new Promenade Court. During the remodeling, new stores had come to the mall such as Delia's, Traffic Shoes, Build-A-Bear Workshop and The Buckle. All renovations were complete by December 2007.
Dillard's shuttered its store on December 5, 2009. The structure was demolished and replaced by a 1-level (145,000 square foot), Washington State-based Costco. This store held its grand opening August 17, 2012.
With Costco's completion, WESTFIELD SARASOTA SQUARE encompassed 1,082,800 leasable square feet and contained 144 stores and services. This number was reduced by one with the shuttering of Macy's, on March 26, 2017. A second major vacancy was created by Sears, who shuttered their 38-year-old store on September 17, 2017.
Westfield's American and European property portfolio was merged into the holdings of Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco in June 2018. A new company, known as Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield was created. Westfield shopping centers in Australia and New Zealand were not included in the merger.
In May 2020, SARASOTA SQUARE went into foreclosure. The mall's Macy's was acquired by Chattanooga-based MRH Sarasota, Limited Liability Company in February 2021. The store building was re-sold to a subsidiary of Chicago-based Torburn Partners in May 2021. The Torburn subsidiary bought the remainder of the shopping hub in January 2022. As of mid-2023, there were eight operational SARASOTA SQUARE stores.
Sources:
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The St. Petersburg Times
www.eyecorp.com
Sarasota County, Florida property tax assessor website
www.reuters.com
Sources:
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The St. Petersburg Times
www.eyecorp.com
Sarasota County, Florida property tax assessor website
www.reuters.com
https://www.sarasotasquaremall.com (now defunct)
"Sarasota Square" article on Wikipedia
