East Memorial Boulevard / US 92 and 98 and North Lake Parker Avenue
Lakeland, Florida
Planning for Lakeland, Florida's first shopping mall commenced in 1963. The fully-enclosed shopping complex was built on a 14.5-acre site. This was located .8 mile northwest of center city Lakeland, on the southern shore of Lake Parker.
LAKE PARKER MALL was developed by Miami-based Bob Howard & Associates and designed by the Aken, Logan & Shafer firm, of Jacksonville. The shopping hub was implemented in stages. The first consisted of 2-level (105,000 square foot) Montgomery Ward, which was dedicated on April 22, 1964. This was joined by a 1-level (88,500 square foot) Woolco discount mart, which opened its doors on April 22, 1971.
A grand opening was held for the adjoining mall on May 31, 1971. The 7 million dollar complex encompassed approximately 390,100 leasable square feet. Among its forty stores and services were SupeRx Drugs, Hi-Tide Fish & Chips, Gallenkamp Shoes, Jean Nicole ladies' wear and (35,000 square foot) S.H. Kress 5 & 10.
An (11,900 square foot) Montgomery Ward Auto Center and (18,900 square foot) Winn-Dixie supermarket were western outparcels of the mall proper. The in-mall Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema showed its first features in December 1972. The venue was renamed Lakeland Mall Twin Cinema in 1975 and was shuttered in 1992.
Meanwhile, the Michigan-based Continental Real Estate Equity Corporation had acquired LAKE PARKER MALL in January 1974. The complex had experienced an identity crisis during its early years because its name did not reflect its location in the city Lakeland.
The official name of the complex was changed to LAKELAND MALL, which became official on July 17, 1974. An indoor-outdoor renovation accompanied the name change, with mallways fitted with new wall-to-wall carpeting, seating areas and landscaping. The exterior was given a paint job, with new parking area lighting and landscaping installed.
A second mall renovation, costing 5 million dollars, commenced in November 1983. Winn-Dixie, vacated in 1979, was divided into three store spaces. One of these was leased as a ShowBiz Pizza Place. In the mall proper, a north-south shopping concourse was created out of a vacant S.H. Kress dime store. A new Center Court and fountain were built. In addition, Morrison's Cafeteria joined the tenant list.
Following the shuttering of Woolco, in January 1983, its store space sat vacant for over 4 years. Bentonville, Arkansas' Sam's Club eventually leased the building and opened, on June 1, 1987, as the fifty-third store in the chain.
LAKELAND MALL enjoyed its enviable position, as the only mall in -or around- the city, for 17 years. This came to an end on March 10, 1988, with the grand opening of the 850,000 square foot LAKELAND SQUARE {2.9 miles northwest, in Lakeland}. This mega mall originally housed eighty-eight inline stores, with three anchors (and a fourth being under construction).
Within a year, the older (and substantially smaller) LAKELAND MALL was 50-percent vacant. Montgomery Ward pulled the plug on their store in early 1991. Jean Nicole, the mall's final operational inline store, was shuttered on June 13, 1993. Sam's Club defected, to a newly-built store north of town, in December 1994.
Following this, the mall sat vacant and boarded up for over 4 years. On February 21, 1999, The First Baptist Church At The Mall held its first services in a renovated Woolco / Sam's Club structure. Since this time, 2.3 million dollars have been spent reconfiguring the mall as a non-secular center for worship and devotion.
Sources:
The Lakeland Ledger
The Tampa Tribune
http://www.cinematreasures.com
Polk County, Florida property tax assessor website
