Life support no more for Jacksonville's Gateway mall

[thelakelander]

New medical tenants and amenities improve Gateway's health.



The Gateway Mall was on life support a year ago and a date with the wrecking ball loomed.

Now it looks like the 42-year-old structure will get reconstructive surgery, at least in part, from a chiropractor, a pediatrician and an eye doctor.

Those medical practitioners' offices are now housed inside the mall and owners of the shopping center are turning the bulk of the enclosed 150,000-square-foot structure into a medical pavilion.

The suites will be customized for individual tenants and, project manager David Demery said, he expects from eight to 10 medical businesses to make the mall home.

Think of a typical six-story office building and spread it all out on one floor in a mall, said Carlton Jones, general manager of the Gateway Town Center, which includes the mall and surrounding strip storefronts.

Most of the stores inside the mall, including Foot Locker and The Athlete's Foot, will move to space outside.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-05-04/story/life_support_no_more_for_jacksonvilles_gateway_mall

Metro Jacksonville Gateway Mall Photo Tour: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/386/117/

[I-10east]

By chance has anyone been to Gateway Mall lately? OMG, it's horrible! It's makes Regency, and the Jacksonville Landing look relatively decent in comparison. I was stunned as it looked like something in an errie old movie. I'm telling you, the ONLY PLACES that are open inside the mall is Payless Shoes Source, Lemon Tree (eatery), Gateway Eye Associates, A&M Cell Phone, Jackson Hewitt, and the Supervision of Elections, that's it. Very depressing, I'll be very surprised if it's still open in 2014. Payless moving to the strip mall section would be an easy move the day that this extremely antiquated indoor mall closes. It's very melancholy. 

[coredumped]

I don't understand why people say the landing is dead, go there on Friday or Saturday and it's usually very busy. As for the gateway mall, I think this is an excellent idea.

[thelakelander]

When Carlton Jones owned it, they relocated most of the shops from out of the mall.  They were planning to fill the mall spaces with medical offices.  I guess that didn't work out as originally planned.

[Dog Walker]

Carlton Jones was the owner??!  That explains a lot.

[Timkin]

[FSBA]

My current job takes me to Gateway every so often. The new owners have done a good job sprucing the place up but it still lacks anything that would make me want to shop there. Truth be told I think I see more people go into the DCF office there than into the mall proper.

If/when the Supervisor of Elections moves out they really need to get that space occupied by someone like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.

[BackinJax05]

^ Back in the day (and Im showing my age here) Gateway had JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, & Morrison's Cafeteria in the mall, along with other specialty shops. There was a record store in the mall that had almost anything you could think of. (Anyone else remember records?)

Outside was Winn Dixie, Murphy's Mart, May Cohen's, Standard Sales, and several restaurants. Such is the life of a shopping center. Norwood Plaza across the street isnt much better than Gateway. It once had a HUGE Big Star grocery store, which later became a Woolco.

[Ocklawaha]

The demographic changes that Gateway and Regency went through put it into an unfortunate tail spin, as for ageless and still running check out Cedar Hills Shopping Center, St. Nicholas and Venetia Village. 

Roosevelt would be a good model to follow but it's going to be harder to attract anchors with River City Marketplace. There ARE several companies including Roses Discount Stores that specialize in locating in economically depressed areas...

Hum? Maybe there is hope for the Landing after all. I don't see the landing as empty, more like WAY outdated, filthy and sputtering.

[thelakelander]

Gateway is still a viable retail/mixed use location, however retail would need to be more neighborhood centered instead of regional.  The demographics for regional retail changed +20 years ago and Gateway's time as a regional mall ended then.  JCPenney was the last department store to leave and they did so despite being offered free rent.  However, that doesn't mean there's no future for that site. Both Roosevelt and Cedar Hills have successfully made the retail transition while many older centers like Philips have not.  Even at Gateway, Publix, McDonald's, Walgreens, etc. have added new locations since JCPenney, Maison Blanche (May-Cohens), Service Merchandise, etc. abandoned the place.  Looking back, probably the largest mistake over the last decade was not closing the deal with Magic Johnson to bring one of his movie theaters to the place.  Now with RCM's theater in business, that ship has sailed.

[Ocklawaha]

There are actually a number of 'light weight' discount retailers that could go into Gateway. Roses, Goodys, Freds, Alco, etc. Roses, Goodys, Freds and Alco are all fairly new in our area and all are aggressively expanding their market. None of these are 'Wal-Mart' size, but they are typically much larger then Dollar General or Walgreens. 

Add our own "A TRAIN," and Gateway would become that mixed use mecca you speak of.

http://www.vwstores.com    Roses Stores
http://www.goodysonline.com    Goody's Stores
http://www.fredsinc.com    Freds Stores
http://www.alcostores.com//about_us    Alco Stores

[thelakelander]

To be honest, I'd suggest, demolishing most of Gateway and replacing it with something like a Walmart, Target, Lowes, etc. as a major retail anchor, keep some existing space for specialty shops, create a few extra outparcels, and add a multifamily housing component.  Something like the senior housing project proposed for 5th & Main in Springfield or the residential infill that Metro North CDC does would also work at a revamped Gateway site.

[tufsu1]

Goody's has pretty much been out of the retail store business for almost a decade...

web site here says that the same company that owns Bealls bought the naming rights back in 2009....and that the name is used in markets with brand loyalty....but given the Bealls is "the Florida store" seems like we'd get that instead of Goody's

[thelakelander]

Doubt Gateway could land a full line Beall's store.  A Beall's Outlet would work.

[Ocklawaha]

Goody's has pretty much been out of the retail store business for almost a decade...

web site here says that the same company that owns Bealls bought the naming rights back in 2009....and that the name is used in markets with brand loyalty....but given the Bealls is "the Florida store" seems like we'd get that instead of Goody's

Store Location

Goodys
Live Oak, FL

Address:1525 S Ohio Ave
Live Oak, FL 32064-4513Phone:(386) 330 - 4318

Store Location

Goodys
MacClenny, FL

Address:1160 South 6th Street
MacClenny, FL 32063-4626Phone:(904) 259 - 8509


Goodys
Palatka, FL

Address:400 N State Rd 19 Ste 49
Palatka, FL 32177Phone:386-325-9092

Don't think they're gone TU, maybe just moved out of the downtown? Palatka and Macclenny both have stores as does Live Oak. They are tied to Stage Stores which is owned by Specialty Retailers Inc. Stage is huge in the Southwest.

RETAIL STORES
beallsonline.com
goodysonline.com
palaisroyal.com
peebles.com
stagestores.com