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Don't say eulogy for mall yet

By MARLENE SOKOL
Published December 2, 2005

Business was booming at Old Navy. It was booming at the Burlington Coat Factory.

It was hard to find a parking space Saturday at University Mall.

You almost had to park in the JCPenney lot, by a store that isn't even there anymore.

Who would have bet? The mall lives.

Tom Locke has been down this road before; 10 years ago, when the Brandon mall opened; six years ago, when the Citrus Park mall opened. Every time a new mall opens, University is said to be in play.

Will it survive? the pundits wonder. Will this be the final blow, the first step to Doomsday?

As the mall's manager for a decade, Locke has danced this dance.

The year after Brandon opened, "we took a 15 percent decline the first year," he said. "By the second year, we had gained all of that back, plus some."

Will Pasco's commercial boom cause a bigger shakeout? Nobody knows.

But early returns on Thanksgiving weekend suggested a robust shopping season, even though JCPenney held its door-buster 13 miles north.

"I've seen a lot more bags than I usually see," Locke said. Jewelers, in particular, told him "they had a good weekend, better than last year."

No, they weren't selling hoodies for $9.99.

The county-funded center, up by the Dillard's, teaches G.E.D. courses, English as a Second Language, FCAT preparation, how to install a car seat.

"This site alone saw 16,000 people last year," said manager Laura Green, "from zero to as old as they come."

Business is so good, she said, the program hopes to move this spring to what used to be a Circuit City at 15th Street and Fowler Avenue.

That's how things go in retail: The electronics giant saw a more prosperous future in New Tampa, as high-end mall merchants begin their trek to Wesley Chapel.

For Green and her staff, it's a pretty good trade. Her center will have more space and easier access to the bus riders and pedestrians who need her classes.

As for the mall?

It's already lined up a new tenant for the JCPenney spot, a super-cheap student apparel chain called Steve & Barry's.

This will be a first for Tampa, and University Mall boasts many Tampa fashion firsts - Papaya, Forever 21 and Hot Topics, to name a few.

Think low prices. Think small sizes. Then remember: There's a university campus right next door.

Because this is not some vast stretch of cypress stand and wetland, pasture and citrus grove, paved over and built up in the middle of nowhere.

University Mall provides jobs for people who really need them. Close to 3,000 in the mall proper, and countless more in the fast-food joints and strip centers all around it.

It's part of a grand design for this struggling area.

It's to form the base of a thriving "main street" corridor that county planners envision along 22nd Street. Hard to picture it now, as cheap apartments occupy so much of the land that fronts the road. But Locke is convinced it will come to pass, just as the towering University Area Community Center arose and, one by one, new schools have opened here.

"I've seen so much happen," Locke said. "The increase in property values has been phenomenal."

Inside, you can only go by the shopping bags. And this year, at least, there is no shortage of them.

"We were open on Saturday," Green said. "And it was very, very busy."

[Last modified December 1, 2005, 09:34:11]