Belk Leaving Regency

[thelakelander]

Agree with you there. I grew up in St Pete and we have probably half a dozen malls on that side of the bay.

The only one left is Tyrone Square and that was the only one that seemed to be modernized at any point.

^I grew up in Polk County but had lots of friends in the Bay Area.  My mom loves to shop and she may be the reason I avoid malls today. I vividly remember the days when places like Clearwater Mall and Pinellas Square were buzzing with activity. Same goes for defunct malls like Tampa Bay Center, East Lake Square, Brandon Mall, Plant City Mall, Floriland Mall, and Lakeland Mall. I was dragged against my will and forced to watch her shop in malls all over the area.

[copperfiend]

My grandparents lived off Park Blvd, so I spent many a summer day at the Pinellas Square Mall. It seemed to start it's downturn in the early 90's and was obsolete within a few years. I was sad to see it torn down but the shopping center that took it's place seems to be doing well when I have been down there.

[IrvAdams]

I think the Citizen's deal could be good. Ample free parking, easy road access. Like the old Grand Boulevard in Baymeadows, which went educational.

Also, dedicated office space would provide some built-in customers and foot traffic for retail/restaurants.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/09/15/belk-leaving-regency-but-management-isnt-concerned.html

[thelakelander]

If Citizens moves into Belk, it will slowly kill foot traffic for all the specialty retail shops located west of the food court. That's an anchor that won't pull shopping foot traffic in that direction and one that will completely be closed on nights and weekends. The same goes for the church they want to put in the west mall. If this is their plan for revitalization, let the retail die/move on (it will anyway) and go the Philips Mall or Grand Boulevard Mall way.....which is a complete non-retail use of the facility.

[finehoe]

I also agree about Northern Saint Johns County. I would not be surprised to see a mall or something similar in the Nocatee/WGV area. I know there were plans for one a decade or so ago before the financial meltdown.

I don't think anyone builds malls anymore.  It will be a "lifestyle center" or whatever ridiculous name they call shopping areas now.

[coredumped]

Maybe I'm living in a fantasy world but I think Regency will reinvent themselves and be fine.
Regency is different than Gateway because of it's location.
It's real convenient to the expressway, and there's million dollar homes near by. Look at charter point and ft. caroline. It's also convenient to JU and UNF students.
As I've said in other threads, Arlington is the 2nd most densely populated neighborhood in Jacksonville, all those people drive right by regency and go to the town center. They need to put some big money in to it to revitalize it and people will be going in, instead of driving by.

[IrvAdams]

I pass through that area a lot. Take a drive around there sometime; many good shortcuts and through streets, limited access expressway, etc. Southside Boulevard, I295, Monument Road, Atlantic, Arlington expressway. It's a major crossroads area. Lots of the houses are being rehabbed/refurbished, and new ones built. It's an old, established area that's a straight shot to Downtown and the Beaches with housing stock that runs the entire gamut price and age-wise.

I think it has comeback potential.

[thelakelander]

It will evolve into something other than a retail center, if they fill that Belk space with a non-retail use, effectively killing reliable foot traffic and visibility for every specialty retail in the East Mall, west of the food court. This scenario has been played out time and time again with older shopping malls and failed redevelopment strategies across the country. Jax, is no different and nothing about Regency or the area it is located in suggests it's path will be unique.

[coredumped]

It will evolve into something other than a retail center, if they fill that Belk space with a non-retail use,

I agree, but that's IF they don't fill it in with some sort of retail. Besides that, they east side of the mall (the original side) is still pretty full. They could cut it off at the belk and have it like it used to be. It would still be a good sized mall.

Jax, is no different and nothing about Regency or the area it is located in suggests it's path will be unique.

Here I disagree for the reasons I mentioned above. Despite what people say about Arlington, it's not struggling like it's portrayed. Regency is struggling, the surrounding communities are doing just fine. Ft Caroline is a very desirable neighborhood. Regency is also the border of southside & arlington (depending on who you ask), and we all know that southside is doing fine.

Look at the area around regency, the restaurants are all packed, you can hardly get in to la nop, outback and chilis on the weekend. The housing market is also doing well in the area. So the people in the community support the area, they just need a reason to go in there.

[thelakelander]

It's not about the neighborhood struggling as much as it is about retail trends and competition changing.  Just looking at Tampa and Orlando, Colonial Mall, East Lake Square, and Tampa Bay Center all went down the tubes and the neighborhoods surrounding them are stable and in decent shape. One ended up as an office park, another as a strip mall and the last one was torn down.

Regency's management will need to decide, which route they want to go.  If it's to keep the East Mall as retail, then they can't replace its main anchor with an insurance office because replacing your main retail anchor with an insurance office will have a negative impact on adjacent specialty shops that depend on the anchor to generate foot traffic. If the goal is to move away from retail, then converting Belk into office space will set those wheels in motion.

[spuwho]

AMC Regency works best on Friday nights in the fall due to everyone being at local football games. Otherwise it's between the high police presence or the number of stealth panhandlers who need "gas money".

There have been a few stick ups of the Compass and Wells Fargo ATM users. We never use any Regency based ATM after dark.

The retail north of the mall is doing well (Home Depot, Target, Walmart, etc.)

The retail south of the mall is the problem.

I stay in touch periodically with the store managers in some of the strip malls where Arlington and Atlantic split.

Some are seeing annual sales declines of 10 to 16% and are either moving to smaller space or cutting staff.

If Pollo Tropical gets the old Hess property next to CFA and the Olive Garden rebuilds, that would be a positive add.

Some of the restaraunts have commented on increased foot traffic since Best Bet opened.

Fridays just finished a major remodel of their Regency locale. So based on street talk it appears eating out is doing OK, just not traditional retail.

[IrvAdams]

I personally think there's too much retail in that area, if you consider all the strip malls. They are the remnants of the day when Regency Square and it's sphere of influence dominated shopping city-wide. I believe the downsizing and consolidation will continue.

This is the major reason that Regency Square's salvation may be non-retail tenant(s), like office space or educational.

However, this area could still absorb more good restaurant options.

[spuwho]

Redmond Town Center is a good example of where retail, hotel, office space and restaraunts all coexist. Granted, the Redmond economy is at a different level than Regency. All so it's a more urban setting, but I have seen them coexist gracefully.

[thelakelander]

They can easily co-exist but placement of the different uses in a manner where they complement each other determines on how successful they'll be.

[JayBird]

Seems like the perfect time to start pushing for some action and get a return on all that money those studies for the past 20 years have cost.





http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-feb-rethinking-regency-mall