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Tested by tragedy

International Plaza seemed almost cursed when it opened Sept. 14, 2001, three days after terrorist attacks with a tropical storm looming in the gulf.

By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published September 13, 2006

TAMPA - Among the nation's mall managers, International Plaza is recognized as setting the unofficial standard for the grand opening from hell.

"We've had blizzards and tornadoes and never missed a grand opening," said Robert Taubman, chief executive of the Taubman Centers Inc., at his company's lonely grand opening ceremony that was witnessed only by a handful of hardy Tampa shoppers exactly five years ago Thursday. "But we never had this combination of events to deal with before."

Just three days earlier, terrorists had crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The air transportation system had been brought to its knees as a stunned nation groped to understand how life had changed. Meanwhile, weather forecasters the night before warned Tampa Bay shoppers to stay off the streets because Tropical Storm Gabrielle was gathering steam with the Tampa Bay area its bulls-eye.

Known as IP among aficionados, International Plaza has since blossomed into the region's retailing showcase, with annual sales as much as a third more than its closest rival. IP's financial performance has propelled it into the top tier of Taubman's 22 malls, surprising even the executives who built it. With the mall headed toward 20-million visitors this year, it's easy to forget the mall's unconventional baptismal under fire that reveals the zeitgeist of the Tampa Bay area at a critical juncture in history.

"It was a challenge," said Nina Mahoney, IP mall marketing director who quickly killed most advertising and scrapped an elaborate mall-opening circus-act hoopla in favor of a simple ceremony and decorations respectful of a nation in mourning. "For a while we wondered if anybody was going to come."

She figured 10,000 silver key chains passed out at the doors would be gone in hours. Instead, they lasted most of the day.

The mall, Dillard's and Neiman Marcus canceled pre-opening galas and donated the money to disaster relief charities.

If all that wasn't enough to mute mall marketers' tooters, there was the property itself. The project had been a frantic last-minute rush job of 2,500 store employees and about 2,000 construction workers. A paralyzed national air freight system kept 15 stores from getting enough merchandise to even set up. When the mall did open, 14 towering sable palms had toppled in the parking lot, others were listing precariously in the high winds, and waste baskets were strategically placed in stores to catch previously unseen roof leaks.

"It was complete chaos; wall-to-wall people, power tools and power cords right until we opened," said Chris Dayer, a maintenance worker who is now facilities superintendent. He recalls a series of 15-hour workdays. "Kahunaville went from an empty shell to a completely-finished restaurant in a matter of days."

Patty Abrams, manager of the Build-a-Bear workshop, had been told to stay home and was prepared to spend the day with her teacher husband because the schools were closed. Then she was roused out of a sound sleep at 6:30 a.m. and ordered to work.

"It's retailing," she said, remembering her boss scampering through the windswept parking lot puddles barefoot with a towel wrapped around her head in a futile attempt to protect a hairdo. "You're always on call."

Nordstrom had primed the press to film its traditional 8 a.m. opening day pep rally. Officials earlier showed a tape of cheering store employees welcoming a mad rush of hundreds of shoppers through the doors at a Boca Raton store.

In Tampa, however, 300 Nordstrom employees cheered and danced to the thumping disco beat of YMCA. Then the huge garage-sized front door was opened to reveal a handful of shoppers wiping sleep from their eyes.

"Scared me to death," said Annette Namath an early-bird shopper from Tampa. "I expected 10 to 15 people, not 300."

By noon, however, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and it became obvious Gabrielle had gone elsewhere.

Then the hordes arrived. As the day wore on, workers got more stores ready, so the mall that opened with 127 stores had 140 by closing time. Through the weekend more than 100,000 dropped by to check out the region's latest retail playground.

At Build-a-Bear, a velvet rope was deployed for lines of people waiting to just get in.

"People never saw a mall like this in Tampa before," said Sonjia Smith, then a part-timer who now is assistant manager. "People would not let us close. We'd see them milling around window shopping when we finally did get out of here well after 10 p.m. every night."

At Crane & Co., manager Genna Hegerich, who had left a job at J.Crew in the World Trade Center mall about 18 months before to return to her hometown, still marvels at shopper attitudes.

"Once the floodgates opened in the afternoon, you could sense the shift in people's values," she recalled. "Many stores had put up flags and bunting. People went out of their way to thank us just for opening. They wrote some moving comments in our guest book. They came here just to feel that normal times were back after three days of nothing but grief and remorse."

Terrorism and the creation of government programs to fight it changed how the mall operates. One result: The storage lockers never have been used there. You cannot check packages at the concierge desk. The subsequent anthrax scare changed procedures. Now a designated executive can shut down any of the 54 air conditioning zones in the mall by remote control 24/7. Surveillance techniques changed dramatically but are shrouded in secrecy. The mall security force almost doubled to 50, including four bicycle and three vehicle patrols in the parking lot.

One new sign of the times: Security treated a simple unattended leather briefcase recently as if it was a bomb. In the end, security determined a shopper had bought a new briefcase and propped the empty old one next to a full trash can.

There's been plenty of tenant turnover, but despite a few gaping holes, the mall is close to fully leased. Lord & Taylor was replaced by Robb & Stucky. Profusion was replaced by Capital Grille. Christian Dior was replaced by Gucci. People's Pottery signed a lease, but never opened.

After five years, however, competition has changed, too, and Taubman wants to stay ahead of the Joneses.

The mall has replaced the soft sculpture in the kids' play area once and is talking of doing it again with a new theme next year. All the bathrooms will be remodeled with flashier fixtures. All those leather easy chairs and lamps in the hallways will be replaced.

"The other malls are getting them, so we've got a decorator working up something better," Mahoney said.

Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or 727 893-8252.

[Last modified September 13, 2006, 07:49:22]