Regency Square Mall Thread

[spuwho]

Regency's biggest issue is that it has very few things going for it. Arlington residents who are better off prefer going to the SJTC. The RCMP meant Northsiders didn't have to go over the Dames Point Bridge for most shopping needs.

If Sears did close, is Regency even financially in its current incarnation going forward?

I've seen it floated about to demolish part of the mall and attract IKEA. Is Jacksonville large enough to attract them?

Jacksonville has already been identified as too small a market for IKEA.

[thelakelander]

Yes, Jacksonville isn't large enough to attract an IKEA and if it was, I doubt Regency would be their first choice for a location.

[duvaldude08]

I am sure the OP mall is doing very well it is always packed.

It is always packed nad is doing well, doesnt mean its "more updated"

[KenFSU]

Regency's biggest issue is that it has very few things going for it. Arlington residents who are better off prefer going to the SJTC. The RCMP meant Northsiders didn't have to go over the Dames Point Bridge for most shopping needs.

If Sears did close, is Regency even financially in its current incarnation going forward?

I've seen it floated about to demolish part of the mall and attract IKEA. Is Jacksonville large enough to attract them?

From the Jax Biz Journal in August:

IKEA expands in South Florida, but when will it come to Jacksonville?

The South Florida Business Journal’s report that IKEA USA will build a second store in the Miami area â€" 40 miles from an existing store â€" begged the question: When will the Swedish home goods mega-retailer open a Jacksonville store?

For Swedish meatball and lingonberry enthusiasts, the answer is unfortunate: Not any time soon.

Joseph Roth, a spokesman for IKEA USA, said he noticed posts on Facebook asking “What about Jacksonville?” when the Miami plans were announced.

“Basically it comes down to population size, and you tend to need approx 2 million people within a 40 to 60-mile radius or trade area,” Roth said. “And you guys aren’t there yet.”

That’s the biggest deciding factor in the store’s expansion plans.

“If you don’t have population size, you don’t really get to the second point,” he said. “It’s basically our stores are so large, they’re very expensive to build and need lots of customers to support them.”

There will now be four IKEA stores between Orlando and Miami: IKEA Orlando, IKEA Tampa, IKEA Sunrise, which is north of Miami, and the new IKEA Miami, to be built in Sweetwater.

“We get inquiries from developers and brokers all the time from Jacksonville, and they say, ‘What can we do?’” Roth said. “Well, double your population. It’s nothing personal. We recognize we have many customers up there, but not enough to support a large IKEA store.”

[fsujax]

Was down in Palm Beach this weekend, noticed they have begun demolition on the old Palm Beach Mall, to make way for some new major redevelopment. That mall basically died off except for the JC Penney.

[FSBA]

So I'm a little late on the IKEA. But the general idea  is the same. Regency has to attract something new to the Jacksonville market or atleast not present at SJTC or RCMP.

[thelakelander]

Perhaps Regency needs to move towards more of a mix of uses and not strictly retail?

[fieldafm]

Perhaps Regency needs to move towards more of a mix of uses and not strictly retail?

I came to that conclusion a few months ago.  As more and more retailers are choosing SJTC and RCMP and with an office market a few miles up the road experiencing the type of low vacancy rates (particularly among users that require large spaces) that would normally signal a return of build to suit construction, maybe the future of Regency is less lifestyle center and more commercial oriented. 

But something less like Kendall Town and more like Crestview Station (obviously without rail, but using that as an example to show the types of users... which is not just a mall but with a mix of commercial space and not as reliant on housing- like Kendall Town is, which still has entitlements for close to, I believe, 500 single family homesites)

[Riverrat]

What would you all think about turning Regency in to an outlet mall? That could mean converting/renovating/reconfiguring the existing space - or raising it and starting from scratch...more of an outdoor lifestyle center concept, but with outlet shops. Jacksonville is a great big city to not have a single outlet mall...currently driving 45 minutes to St. Augustine just to visit J.Crew Factory Store is getting old!

[thelakelander]

The Bay Area is more than twice our size and I think the closest outlet mall is in Manatee County on I-75. To be honest, I'm not sure there's a market for plus million square foot outlet mall in a metropolitan area the size of Jax's (considering there are two already in St. Augustine). Also, would switching to an outlet format require anchors like Sears, JCPenney and Belk to be booted?

[Riverrat]

To be honest, I'm not sure there's a market for plus million square foot outlet mall in a metropolitan area the size of Jax's (considering there are two already in St. Augustine). Also, would switching to an outlet format require anchors like Sears, JCPenney and Belk to be booted?

Perhaps something along the idea of a Mills Mall, like Opry Mills in Nashville or Katy Mills in Katy, TX.

www.simon.com/mall/opry-mills‎

A hybrid of sorts with some stores outlet, some not. I would think the anchors would be an asset and be invited to stay if they desired to be a part of it.

Again, some of the mall could be demolished if it's too big and the land used for another purpose.

Just a thought.

Forgive my ignorance - I'm not a commercial developer - but why would a city the size of Jacksonville not be able to support an outlet mall?

[jcjohnpaint]

When I was in Pennsylvania, big outlet stores were around, even in not so big areas.  Given they pool off the New Yorkers visiting, but we have the people.  I think it would work fine. 

[JECJAX]

Just a quick update on the Regency Square area.  There is activity of new homes being built on the northwest side of the mall.  Here is the link to the information - http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=540080
Also one of the old closed restaurants is showing signs of new life.  - http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=539387. 
There must be some reorganization of the mall itself that would benefit Arlington as a whole.  The shops that are outside of the mall remain busy.  Considering the amount of traffic on Arlington Expy and Atlantic Blvd, there should be plenty of support for a revamp of this shopping district.

[tlemans]

I like the idea of making it an outlet mall. I am thinking in line with the Dolphin Mall in Miami. Does anyone know someone in management of the mall that we could suggest this to?

[coredumped]

Just a quick update on the Regency Square area.  There is activity of new homes being built on the northwest side of the mall.  Here is the link to the information - http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=540080
Also one of the old closed restaurants is showing signs of new life.  - http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=539387. 
There must be some reorganization of the mall itself that would benefit Arlington as a whole.  The shops that are outside of the mall remain busy.  Considering the amount of traffic on Arlington Expy and Atlantic Blvd, there should be plenty of support for a revamp of this shopping district.

This is good stuff. That lot already being cleared is such a great location to the everything expressway, downtown, stadium, hopefully-better-regency-mall, and even 295. I'm ready to see Arlington on the comeback. It's too convenient to everything for it to fall in to a really bad state.

Still a long way to go, but this might be the turning point. As I've said before, Arlington has tons of people living in it that drive by Regency to go to SJTC. Regency is missing out big time.