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Malls' battle a war of tall wordsBy MARK ALBRIGHT
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- Tampa Bay's on-going mall war has boiled into a battle of the billboards, too. WestShore Plaza has surrounded the new International Plaza with 11 billboards and promises to rent even more to thwart its new rival. "We're renting as many billboards within a 3-mile radius of International Plaza as we can sew up just to block them from getting any," said Tom Miles, general manager of WestShore, located by Interstate 275 at Memorial Boulevard. "We're letting them know we're not just going to roll over and play dead." The billboard blitz is the latest chapter in a decadelong feud between Grosvenor International, WestShore's owner, and Taubman Centers Inc., developer of International Plaza. The campaign is part of WestShore's larger strategy to take advantage of International Plaza's less visible location. International Plaza is a half-mile from the nearest freeway interchange at Boy Scout Boulevard and West Shore Boulevard. The new mall may be in the geographic heart of the Tampa Bay area, but many local mall managers say the off-the-beaten track location in a neighborhood notorious for traffic congestion is a drawback. They expect shopper confusion and neighborhood traffic migraines -- especially in 2003 when state road builders begin a three-year, $164-million reconstruction of the interchanges at the entrance to Tampa International Airport. International Plaza's owners are counting heavily on tourists and residents from other counties, so helping shoppers find the place will be a lingering issue. Meanwhile, motorists will find plenty of roadside reminders of how to get to the older but recently upgraded WestShore Plaza. Three WestShore billboards are visible from International Plaza's parking lot. The mall's owner is picking up the $500,000 billboard tab, doubling WestShore's annual marketing budget. "We call it our battle fund," Miles said. So far, the move seems to have paid off. International Plaza rented only two billboards. One is in downtown Tampa at I-275 and I-4. The other will be visible to I-275 motorists coming from Pinellas County near the Howard Frankland Bridge. "We secured the sites more than a year ago," said Nina Polm, International Plaza's marketing director. "We have planned an integrated advertising campaign for the opening that includes radio, newspaper, TV and direct mail. But that's all the billboards we think we need." International Plaza's downtown Tampa billboard doesn't do any favors for WestShore Plaza, either. It suggests using the Lois Avenue exit from I-275. "That way they don't drive by WestShore Plaza," Polm said. -- Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8252.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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