East Colonial Drive and Maguire Boulevard
Orlando, Florida
The third shopping mall in -or around- "The City Beautiful" was an addition to a 2-level (183,300 square foot) Sears, which opened October 30, 1963. Ground was broken for the ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE mall in 1972. Developed by Pompano Beach's Leonard L. Farber Company, the fully-enclosed shopping hub was built on a 70.5-acre site, located 2 miles northeast of center city Orlando.
Stores at the mall were opened in two phases. The first group debuted on July 30, 1973. An additional Grand Opening II was held October 29th of the same year. POMPANO FASHION SQUARE spanned approximately 843,000 leasable square feet. When fully-leased, the venue contained ninety-four stores and services under its roof.
The first newly-built anchor store, a 2-level (212,200 square foot), Miami-based Burdines, held its grand opening on July 30. A 2-level (170,600 square foot), St. Petersburg-based Robinson's of Florida was inaugurated on October 29th.
Charter FASHION SQUARE tenants included Gordon's Jewelers, Shoe Lodge, Lad & Lassie Toys, Young Threads Fashion World, Infinity Fashions, Florsheim Shoes, a GDS Drug, Counter Culture Snack Bar and Ocala-based Rheinauers specialty store.
Competing retail centers in the vicinity were COLONIAL PLAZA MALL (1956 & 1962) {.3 miles west, in Orlando} and WINTER PARK MALL (1964) {3.2 miles northwest, in Winter Park}.
A freestanding multiplex, the General Cinema Corporation Fashion Square Four, opened for business on November 12, 1976. This movie house was converted to a 6 -and then 8- screen venue. New Jersey's Toys "R" Us chain built a 1-level (46,000 square foot) store as a mall outparcel, which opened for business August 29, 1986.
In August 1987, Robinson's of Florida stores were acquired by Baton Rouge-based Goudchaux's-Maison Blanche. The stores operated as Robinson's-Maison Blanche until their conversion to the Maison Blanche nameplate, on March 28, 1988.
New York City's Shroder Real Estate Associates acquired ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE in June 1988. They embarked on a major renovation and expansion in August 1989. During this project, the outparcel cinema was demolished.
Maison Blanche was replaced with a new 2-level (129,100 square foot) store, which was built northeast of the existing building. The new Maison Blanche commenced operation in November 1990.
The original location was refitted as new inline store space, which included a large court area and upper level Food Court. These were completed between November 1991 and January 1992. At this time, eight Maison Blanche stores in Florida were acquired by Fairfield, Ohio-based Mercantile Stores. These were eventually rebranded as Mobile-based Gayfer's.
Meanwhile, on June 22, 1990, the new General Cinema Corporation Fashion Square Cinema 6 opened for business. It was built on a pad located across McCullough Avenue from the mall proper.
In August 1992, the final phase of the FASHION SQUARE makeover got underway. A 2-level (133,600 square foot), J.C. Penney, and new section of inline stores, were added west of the old Robinson's / Maison Blanche. An adjacent parking garage was also built.
The new Penney's (a relocation of the circa-1964 store at WINTER PARK MALL) was dedicated on April 7, 1993. ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE now encompassed 1,042,000 leasable square feet and housed one hundred and twenty stores and services under its roof.
A third anchor rebranding took place following the August 1998 buyout of Mercantile Stores by Dillard's. Gayfer's received a Dillard's nameplate soon after. The freestanding Fashion Square Cinema 6 was shuttered on September 28, 2000. The building was renovated and re-opened as the High-Tech Institute.
ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE was without a theatrical venue until a new megaplex was installed in space adjacent to the Second Level Food Court. The Premiere Cinemas Orlando Fashion Square Premiere 14 made its debut on July 16, 2004.
The mall's fourth anchor rebranding began with the conversion of Burdines to Burdines-Macy's on January 30, 2004. The store was fully "Macy-ated" on March 6, 2005. Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) had acquired ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE in November 2004.
By this time, the mall was competing with four new shopping centers. These were THE FLORIDA MALL (1986) {8.1 miles southwest, in Orlando}, WEST OAKS MALL (1996) {10.3 miles west, in Ocoee}, OVIEDO MARKETPLACE (1998) {9.3 miles northeast, in Oviedo} and MALL AT MILLENIA (2002) {6.8 miles southwest, in Orlando}.
Competition and The Great Recession hurt business at ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE. Several national tenants closed their stores and were replaced by mom & pop-type retailers. PREIT put their "non-strategic asset" on the open market in May 2012. The center was sold to Franklin, Tennessee's UP Development in February 2013.
They announced a major reworking of the mall in May 2013. Demolition was underway by February 2014. Inline store space along the south-facing front of the complex was demolished. The plan was to build a 7-story Westin Element Hotel and several streetscape-type restaurants in the cleared area.
However, the project stalled out before construction got underway. It seemed that uncertainty about the future of the mall's Macy's and Sears stores had put a damper on plans for redevelopment. As it turned out, apprehension about the Sears at ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE had been based in reality. The store was shuttered in November 2016.
New York City-based Seritage Growth Properties (a newly-formed Sears subsidiary) razed the vacant building and replaced it with SHOPPES AT ORLANDO FASHION SQUARE, a 126,000 square foot strip center. The SHOPPES was anchored by a (60,000 square foot), Smyrna, Georgia-based Floor & Decor, which began business October 4, 2018.
Meanwhile, UP Development had signed new FASHION SQUARE mall tenants . An (18,000 square foot) StrikeOuts Bowling & Entertainment Center opened, on the Second Level, in mid-2014. On the periphery of the complex, Toys "R" us was shuttered and demolished. It was replaced by a 1-level (50,000 square foot) Dick's Sporting Goods. This store began business on October 24, 2014.
UP Development defaulted on their mall loan in January 2018, with Bancorp assuming ownership. In February 2017, they placed Chicago's Urban Retail Properties in charge of the operation and leasing of the mall until a buyer could be found for the property.
Sources:
The Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Evening Star
http://www.preit.com (Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust)
Orange County, Florida property tax assessor website
http://orlandofashionsquare.com
http://www.updevelopment.com
https://www.orlandoweekly.com
https://www.bizjournals.com
Orange County, Florida property tax assessor website
http://orlandofashionsquare.com
http://www.updevelopment.com
https://www.orlandoweekly.com
https://www.bizjournals.com
