Regency Square Mall Thread

[Charles Hunter]

Wasn't there a rumor they were moving out to Sleiman-land at Kernan?

[coredumped]

I heard that they're opening one at Kernan, but as far I know they haven't announced anything with the Regency property.

[tufsu1]

Unless you know something I (we?) don't know, there's been no announcement of Belk to leave Regency.

well they are building a new store about 3 miles away...what does that tell you?

[coredumped]

well they are building a new store about 3 miles away...what does that tell you?

Nothing? There's a best buy 6 miles away and the Regency one does well and has no plans to close.

[thelakelander]

There's another Belk six miles away as well.  It will be really surprising if Belk decides to operate two full line department stores that close to one another in a market that's not exactly booming.

[thelakelander]

City has had 'positive' first talks with new owners of Regency Square Mall

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=542351

[coredumped]

Thanks for posting this lake.

I'm very excited to see what happens. 2 good quotes from the article:

"It was one of the most prominent malls in the Southeast, the area around it is stable, you have a lot of synergy, you have great visibility," Crawford said.

Great point, Arlington is a very stable neighborhood.

In general, he said, Regency has "great access, great parking, great bones around it, great opportunity."

Location location location! This is such a prime piece of real estate, it just needs a few things to go it's way. There's so many people that live in the area that drive by it every day. They just need to figure out how to get people off the connector or the expressway and in to the parking lot.

Looking forward to what comes next!

[spuwho]

Another mall from the Regency era meets the end. I used to frequent this mall in the late 1980's and it was a little worn at the edges back then.

Per the St Louis Post Dispatch:

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/want-to-buy-the-old-crestwood-plaza-bidding-starts-at/article_4acc97cf-02f2-5945-94d6-0832c75b9a77.html

Want to buy the old Crestwood Plaza? Bidding starts at $1 million



A million dollars is the minimum starting bid for Crestwood Court, the defunct shopping mall whose owners hope to sell through an online auction.
The auction begins April 21 and concludes April 23.

Crestwood's final store, a LensCrafters, closed last fall. Back in the day, when it called itself Crestwood Plaza, the mall had scores of tenants, including outposts of major department stores. "Crestwood Plaza, where the big stores are," was the well-known ad slogan.

After failing to get tax incentives last year to overhaul Crestwood Court, its owners dropped redevelopment plans for what was the St. Louis area's first regional mall and decided to offer the place for sale.

Under a new owner, the defunct mall, which opened in 1957, would likely be razed.


CBRE, the commercial real state firm marketing the 47-acre Watson Road site, has said the "highest and best use" for the property would be an owner-occupier tear-down and rebuild.

Chicago-based Centrum Partners acquired the struggling property in 2008 for about $17.5 million. With the mall's tenants dwindling, Centrum sought to tear down most of the existing structure and convert it to new retail and entertainment uses. Some of the initial plans for the proposed entertainment district included a bowling alley, restaurants and a venue for live performances.

Including the purchase price, Centrum and co-owner Angelo, Gordon & Co., a New York-based hedge fund, said they invested $20 million in the property readying it for a revival.

But Crestwood officials balked at approving $34 million in tax-increment financing and new sales taxes for a $124 million redevelopment. Some Crestwood residents and officials said they were concerned that new tenants would hurt other area businesses. Foes also objected to the amount of the public subsidy request.

[duvaldude08]

Thanks for posting this lake.

I'm very excited to see what happens. 2 good quotes from the article:

"It was one of the most prominent malls in the Southeast, the area around it is stable, you have a lot of synergy, you have great visibility," Crawford said.

Great point, Arlington is a very stable neighborhood.

In general, he said, Regency has "great access, great parking, great bones around it, great opportunity."

Location location location! This is such a prime piece of real estate, it just needs a few things to go it's way. There's so many people that live in the area that drive by it every day. They just need to figure out how to get people off the connector or the expressway and in to the parking lot.

Looking forward to what comes next!

Very true. I popped in myself over the weekend. I was in the area going out to eat with a friend. I stopped in K & G across the street and couldn't find what I needed, so I went over to Belk at Regency. Its in a VERY convenient location and plus all the things you mentioned. It just needs to be redeveloped. Hope things go well.

[spuwho]

Old malls don't die, they get re-invented.

Here is the story of a Regency era mall (Midtown Plaza) in Rochester, NY. You will love the insights into "suburban living" as far back as 1963. The parallels to greater Jacksonville in this video are pretty funny.

http://www.youtube.com/v/LtG2CfAwMGE

And the town simply reinvented the Plaza into new urban purpose. (This was considered the first urban mall)

They stripped the mall down to its roots, took down the old facades and are building a new mixed use development.


And when they are done, it will become the "Tower at Midtown"



http://www.thetoweratmidtown.com/

I could easily see the Regency property being stripped the bones, redeveloped as mixed use with a super nice multi-modal terminal with some big box retail surrounding it.

[thelakelander]

Nice to see Rochester do something with that mall. I was up there in 2008 and it was already dead.  Here are a few pics:







http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-oct-elements-of-urbanism-rochester

[spuwho]

Thanks Lake,

I was actually just starting a search to see if you had done an "urbanism" story on Rochester.

Thanks for the link.

[thelakelander]

It's been six years since I did a good trip through the Northeast.  While I'm not planning to hit Upstate NY this year, I'll probably hit Baltimore, Wilmington, Philly, NYC and perhaps Boston in July.

[spuwho]

I have family history in upstate NY (Rochester & Syracuse) so I love reading these stories about them in the post War era as that is when they lived there and they were bustling towns.

If you do stop in Baltimore, my ancestor was a city planner and was commissioned to lay out the city square. There is supposed to be a bottle of wine he buried on the square to celebrate the event. In return for his work a town south of Baltimore was named after him. (Shipley, MD)

I too have a trip planned up there.

[ProjectMaximus]

I too have a trip planned up there.

When are we gonna start the annual Metrojacksonville road trip? A hands-on "learning from" series?