Transformation Of University Mall Into Urban Village To Begin

TAMPA, FL -- RD Management will take the first step toward transforming University Mall into a community showcase. On Tuesday, Feb. 19, the management group will begin demolition work at the mall in preparation for creating an urban village-style life sciences and technology research park called Uptown.

Both Chris Bowen, chief development strategist at RD Management, and former Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, director of Tampa !P, the Tampa Innovation Alliance, will speak at 1 p.m., prior to the start of the demolition work.

Built in the 1970s, the mall at 2200 E. Fowler Ave. has been on a slow decline with anchor stores either pulling out due to slow sales or declaring bankruptcy.

Owner RD Management, working with the Tampa Innovation Alliance, plans to breathe new life into the 1,332,205-square-foot facility.

RD Management plans to turn the declining indoor mall into an outdoor villages offering a wide variety of services for the University area.

“The approximately 100-acre Uptown project will become a multi-story, urban neighborhood development showcasing life sciences and technology research institutes and complexes; retail, place-making, and recreational opportunities and entertainment; hospitality; education; medical specialties, clinics, and pavilions; corporate offices and co-working spaces; and residential and other related uses," said Richard Birdoff, principal and president of RD Management.

Birdoff said the traditional enclosed mall will make way for a vibrant mixed-use city center.

Bowen envisions a destination similar to the revamped Channelside District in downtown Tampa with pedestrian-friendly streets lined with shops, food halls, a dog park, apartments and a lifestyle center.

After years in the planning, Bowen said he's eager for the demolition work on the existing space to begin next week.

"This is the first step in an ongoing process of clearing the way for our approximately 100-acre Uptown project," he said. "We are starting at the west side of the property, where we are demolishing an area between the former JCPenney and the existing mall. Our plan for this section includes construction of a pedestrian-oriented street supporting new food and beverage offerings and the redevelopment of the two-story, 160,000-square-foot former JCPenney into a Class A office and technology research complex."

New health and fitness facilities, redevelopment of the back lake frontage, and construction of a multi-story residential complex are also proposed as part of this west-side development phase, he said.

Although the mall has experienced an economic downturn, it does have existing businesses that have hung on. Birdoff said those businesses will become Uptown's first tenants.

"As part of the mall's revitalization, it is our intention to include all existing tenants and incorporate many of the property's current structures, including the parking garage, into the final product," he said. "Our existing tenants have served the Tampa community for years and will undoubtedly continue to add value alongside new businesses."

The mall has 113 remaining tenants including Grand's, Aeropostale, Burlington, Claire's, Dillard's Clearance, Victoria's Secret, Zales and Studio Movie Grill.

Prior to the start of the demolition work, the mall will host the FIRST Robotics Competition scrimmage for a dozen teams. About 100 youth will converge on the mall Saturday, Feb. 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with their 120-pound robots to practice on Florida's only full-size FIRST Robotics Competition field.

The field is the first step in developing the Tampa Bay Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics Center (AMRoC) Fab Lab at the mall. A program of the Foundation for Community-Driven Innovation, the Fab Lab is slated to open this summer but will hold periodic events and programs while construction is taking place.

The Fab Lab is designed to be a sort of incubator for young people interested in project-based project-based engineering education and training. It will also serve as a Tampa Bay FIRST robotics hub, with resources for K-12 FIRST teams.

Image via RD Management

(For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)