Rethinking Regency Mall

[Jumpinjack]

You are asking some very good questions. Mall building did have a negative effect on downtown.

[mtraininjax]

Remade the old malls? That is nuts, look at St. Johns Town Center, that works, its new and its decentralized with people walking outside the mall, call it crazy, I hate it when it rains, but it is working and with all the space for each, it would make better sense to raze the old buildings and build a model of SJTC on the space that they consume. Avenues has 4 new stores, but Simon is a much better operator than most.

[vicupstate]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/06/03/4083489/bold-visions-compete-for-eastland.html

Two redevelopment plans submitted for a now-closed mall in Charlotte that is very similiar to Regency.  Long-range plans for the site include a streetcar stop.

[Glenn Caton]

Why does everyone like the design of a shopping area that reminds me of the little neighborhood shopping centers of the nineteen fifties?

I probably am out of it, but I believe it rains for a good part of 200 days a year here. Additionally, it is hotter than eighty most of the year. There was a reason why malls rose to dominate commercial shopping complexes. It got you out of the weather!

Because of this, the incredibly sprawling nature of the town centers, the fact that these are really cow pasture centers, the ridiculous parking, and the inadequate store size, I avoid the town centers like the plague. They have to be in the center of a town to be a town center, but there is not a town in sight of SJTC, RPMC, or Nocatee Town Center.

St. Augustine has a true town center, but, because it is more than four hundred years old, the shops are too small to attract A class retailers. In many cases, this is a good thing as it seems to encourage some creativity on the part of the shop owners. At least in St. Augustine they had to finally break down and do a part of the right thing after they had tried everything else: They built a huge and proximate parking garage to get parking lot sprawl out of the equation and they ran the tour trams to it.

Roosevelt Mall was originally roofed, but when Regency opened, Roosevelt Mall air conditioned rapidly. The problem was it was not big enough to compete. When the Avenues opened, Regency and Orange Park had to enlarge.

I think that a big part of the problem is that retailers don't want to pay the gross sales gouge that mall operators demanded in addition to rent. Top end stores were frequently excused from the gouge as they were needed as "anchor" stores by the developers. 

Thinking about all of these things, I believe that the problem with retail centers, as a whole, are not the design or lack of it, the management of the centers, or the lack of viable community planning: it lies in the lack of vision of the retailers.

[FSBA]

Looks like Regency Square Mall has a buyer, just not sure who yet

http://jacksonville.com/business/2014-01-23/story/sharing-wealth-has-not-been-good-regency-square-mall

[JECJAX]

Regency Square has been an anchor for shopping in Jacksonville since 1967. Those of that us that work over by the mall and have for many years still support and love shopping here. There are definitely enough people living around the mall (more to come thanks to Lennar Homes) and street traffic to more than support the mall. If you look at surrounding shopping and restaurants it's a clear indication that the area is safe and vibrant. We are looking forward to the NEW Regency Square !

[IrvAdams]

I agree. I live within 4 miles of Regency Square and would love to see some semblance of the old mall's glory days return. Excellent location and constant traffic, good mixed-use retail area, safe and clean neighborhoods. I'm sure it will rise again, either as one big retail center or a split-purpose facility.

[coredumped]

Yep - this is huge news and hopefully will breathe new life in to the mall. As the article states, most everything around the mall is doing quite well. There's all kinds of people that live in the area (from 6 figures to low-income) and the demand is definitely there.

[duvaldude08]

Im one that will admit, without an once of shame that I still love Regency and the area, and want to see the mall bounce back. Being a 80's baby, I have ALOT of memories Regency Square in its hey days. Just running around being a kid, movie hopping (paying for one movie, and seeing three LOL). Lots of fun. I hope they do something with it

[iMarvin]

That article mentioned an amusement park being built there. That'd be a great place to put one. 15 minutes or less to the beach, downtown, and the airport. That would really boost the area.

[coredumped]

I don't think it's big enough, especially for something like wild adventures. I still think it could be a huge retail outlet again, however, it would be at the cost of the SITE.

[jaxjaguar]

An amusement park is definitely possible and honestly it would be a pretty sweet location. As mentioned above it's about 15 minutes from downtown / SJ Town Center, 20 minutes to the beaches, there are plenty of Hotels within 5-15 minutes. AND there's a great water park about 20 minutes away that people tend to forget about... Adventure Landing in Jax Beach.

Also, keep in mind an amusement park doesn't have to be MASSIVELY sprawled out like a "theme park." If it's focused on rides and attractions, rather than fake buildings and plywood fake cities, the 110 acre plot would be perfect. There's already a really nice zoo 20 minutes away so no need for the extra acreage like Wild Adventures and Bush Gardens use. I think the biggest complaint I heard growing up was that the Florida theme parks are pretty boring. Sure it's fun to go once or twice, but each park only has 2-3 roller coasters so it's get's pretty old fast. There's also a good crowd that would be willing to drive 45 minutes - 1 hour to get here vs the 2-3 hours it would take to get to Orlando / Tampa. It could still be themed, but more focused on rides...Maybe sports related, "NFL Play 60 Park of Jacksonville"? (fast acrobatic roller coasters, a higher end go kart track ala Ocala GP, Zip lining, base jump, human foosball, human bowling, bumper boat football). If the Jaguars or NFL would sponsor the park it would be a win / win for the team, league and city.

The property is better suited than the shipyards as well for noise pollution reasons, since there are fewer residences immediately near by / no water for sound to travel over.

Some Popular Parks by acreage:

Disney California Adventure: 67 acres
Islands of Adventure: 110 acres
Universal Studios, FL: 125 acres
Disney's Magic Kingdom: 107 acres
Disney's Hollywood Studio's: 135 acres
Silver Dollar City: 61 acres
Holiday World: 80 acres

[I-10east]

I personally would like to see an amusement/theme park go somewhere else, and Regency given a second chance as a shopping mall. It not like this city doesn't have a shortage of land. Most theme parks tend to be in suburban areas, that way they are free to expand, with no noise complaints from neighbors, etc.

Wild Adventures is a young theme park in the middle of nowhere; I wouldn't be scared of building a med/large scale theme park here in Jax somewhere. The common statement that some say is "We can't compete with Orlando, therefore that will lead to failure" We don't have to compete with Orlando, as it would appeal to a regional crowd; No different than SJTC, and RCMP appealing to a regional crowds. It would be wise to stay away from expensive sponsors; There are definitely lessons to be learned from the old ill-fated Hard Rock Park/Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach.

[spuwho]

Gaylord's Opryland Nashville is a good example of a resort that gave up the theme park roots and focused on convention center work and large group hosting.

I would say tear it down and make it a resort/convention center with all new retail attached in the vein of The Mills Company does (Gurnee Mills, St Louis Mills), but its not well connected with the city. Has poor connectivity to the airport.

[jaxjaguar]

Wild Adventures: 166 acres including zoo, 116 acres w/o zoo...

There really is plenty of room there already. And When you consider the amount of traffic that drives near there (295, Arlington Expressway, Atlantic Blvd, Southside Blvd) it kind of seems like a no brainer as far as being pretty centralized and well connected. Bush Gardens is basically built in the middle of a neighborhood in Tampa off of 75. It's fed by a similar road conglomeration as well.