Brio's Tuscan Grille headed to SJTC

[thelakelander]

I think its like Orange Park and Regency.  It's this era's "sexy" shopping center.  Like the Orange Park and Regency scenes of 30 years ago, its the hot spot for new chain development and it has its own niche of attracting national chains that happen to be new to our market.  Give it another decade or two and there will be another scene some other spot in town.

[copperfiend]

I wonder if it's close proximity to UNF gives it an advantage over the Regency and OP mall areas.

[cline]

I wonder if it's close proximity to UNF gives it an advantage over the Regency and OP mall areas.

I wonder if it's close proximity to UNF gives it an advantage over the Regency and OP mall areas.

I think the only thing that gives it the "edge" is the fact that it is new.  When Regency was new it was the place to go.  Now, once the newness and novelty has worn of, not so much.

[thelakelander]

I wonder if it's close proximity to UNF gives it an advantage over the Regency and OP mall areas.

Doubt it.  Regency and OP are yesterday's retail epicenters.  Malls typically don't last forever.  I find Regency lucky to even still be around, considering it originally opened in 1967.  I can rattle off several malls from that era in Florida alone that have already died and been demolished. SJTC happens to be the new kid on the block that's designed to accommodate today's retail trends and preferences.  Other than that, being located at JTB & SR 9A, makes it easily accessible to most in the region.

[jcjohnpaint]

but then you look at somewhere like King of Prussia outside Philly.  It always seems like the place to go.  I guess it is also the malls keeping up with a changing society and culture.  I really don't want to think of these places as dead before they are dead.  I think mismanagement is to cause.  Although I can see all those surface lots being really 'out' in the future.  I do like how SJTC does have housing stock around it and I wish they would have more of it in a walkable way. 

[tufsu1]

King of Prussia has been consistently updated.

A similar upscale mall just outside Washington D.C. has also fallen on hard times.  White Flint Mall, which has Bllomingdales, Lord & Taylor, Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs, plus a movie theater as well as D&B, is a virtual ghost town these days.  It will be torn down and replaced with a mixed-use dense development.

See, even some high end malls surrounded by great neighborhoods have to be reinvented to survive

as for OP Mall, it has been renovated and expanded several times which helps keep it fresh....but right now, it also has very little competition, which is why its still doing pretty well.

[Tacachale]

One effect UNF has had in that area is keeping nearby property values relatively stable. So the SJTC has that going for it. One reason Regency mall has declined so much is that the area itself has declined. That will likely be slower to take effect for the area around the SJTC.

Another issue with Regency was that its renovations didn't do much to keep up with the current trends. Obviously it will be on the owners of the SJTC to keep the mall up to date with what appeals to their customers and tenants. However, Florida malls don't have a great track record with that.

[thelakelander]

Every decade or so, a mall needs to be updated (sometimes significantly) to keep up with the changing times.  Across the country, several malls Regency's and OPM's age have updated by creating outdoor SJTC-like additions or modifications to their facilities when a major anchor leaves.  Someone mentioned going to a Brio in Winter Park and equating that center to a smaller SJTC.  Winter Park Village was originally Winter Park Mall and similar in size to the old Philips Mall.  It was one of the first enclosed malls in Florida to be converted to the open air lifestyle center format, back in the 1990s.  However, sometimes even updating doesn't work when the competition is too stiff.

[copperfiend]

One thing I was wondering is why Regency and OP malls would be lumped together? I drive by Regency a few times a week and the mall always looks dead. Alot of big box retail (Toys R Us, Garden Ridge, Barnes and Noble, etc) and restaurants has closed in just the last couple of years. But OP on the other hand, seems to be doing pretty well in the times I go by there. The big box retailers seem to be thriving.

[cline]

The Regency Mall itself is pretty dead.  Both Regency and OP have theaters, which are doing quite well.  If you're talking about big-box retailers surrounding the mall, I would say that both have about the same.  Both have places like Home Depot, Lowes, Target etc. with some restaurants thrown in.  Both have had places close recently.

[Doctor_K]

Copperfield - IMO, I think tufsu1 hit on something to address that:

....but right now, it also has very little competition, which is why its still doing pretty well.

South and East of the River, Regency has to compete against Avenues and SJTC (to where, incidentally, Toys R Us and Barnes & Noble 'relocated'). 

Unless I'm mistaken (and I may well be!) the only real mall/retail hub of similar nature on the other side of the River is the OP Mall.

I think it's thriving due to its monopoly more than anything else.

[cline]

Copperfield - IMO, I think tufsu1 hit on something to address that:

....but right now, it also has very little competition, which is why its still doing pretty well.

South and East of the River, Regency has to compete against Avenues and SJTC (to where, incidentally, Toys R Us and Barnes & Noble 'relocated'). 

Unless I'm mistaken (and I may well be!) the only real mall/retail hub of similar nature on the other side of the River is the OP Mall.

I think it's thriving due to its monopoly more than anything else.

I think you could count the town center retail area in Fleming Island as competition.  They have a theater as well.

[thelakelander]

Regency also has River City Marketplace to compete against.  Orange Park Mall's nearest competition, to a lesser degree, would be Oakleaf Town Center.  Nevertheless, you can't discount Orange Park Mall's continued investment in itself.  From adding the AMC at the entrance instead of the back parking lot to integrating new anchors like Dick's, that mall has continued to adapt and update.  Since the mid/late-1990s, I don't think you can say the same about Regency.

[blizz01]

***1,000 POSTS!*** 

Plus, you have to consider that the big box stores in the OP area still serve Fleming Island/Eagle Harbor in addition to Oakleaf - Clay County was one of the fastest growing areas in the state during the boom - while there are certainly a lot of strip malls in those respective areas, that mall is still a hub.  That said, you can still opt to catch a movie in Fleming Island.

[fieldafm]

This will be going near where the proposed Mellow location would have gone.  Mellow dangled the Town Center and King Street carrot in front of Tinseltown in order to get a better deal to re-up where they are now.  Pretty shrewd move on their part.