University Mall, previously University Square Mall, is a shopping mall located near the University of South Florida, just north of the city limits of Tampa on Fowler Avenue; a major eight lane, east-west corridor. The property is located just east of I-275, a major north/south interstate serving Tampa and counties to the north. Major landmarks in close proximity include: - University of South Florida's main campus just east and is the nation's 9th largest public university with more than 47,000 students and 16,000 faculty/staff. - Four hospitals; including James Haley VA Hospital, Florida Hospital, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Shriners Hospitals for Children. In total more than 1,274 beds. - Museum of Science & Industry, Busch Gardens and Adventure Island. Collectively, more than 5 million people visit these attractions annually. More than 260,000 people live and 145,000 work within five miles of the mall. The mall boasts a strong retail presence and density. Presently, the mall is anchored Dillard's Clearance Center, Burlington Coat Factory, Grand's, and K&G Fashion Superstore. There are a wide variety of national, regional and local retailers; lending itself to many different population and demographic segments. Demolition of the closed section of the mall began on February 19, 2019.
History
University Square Mall was officially dedicated August 15, 1974 with Robinson's of Florida and Maas Brothers, whose location was their sixth to be located in a shopping mall. JCPenney came inline on the west end of the mall in October 1974, and Sears began business in September 1975 on the east side. Burdines was added, as a fifth anchor, in 1983 in between Sears and Robinson's. In its early years, the mall had a mascot named "Hootie", an anthropomorphic owl wearing a graduate cap, who was often used in promotions and advertisements. Robinson's of Florida was rebranded in 1987 by Louisiana's Maison Blanche, which in turn was rebranded in 1991 as a Dillard's, which moved into a newly built store built north of the original one in November 1995 to copy the newly built Brandon Town Center. This move was accompanied by a large-scale renovation and expansion of the shopping complex, whereby the vacated Dillard's was gutted and rebuilt as new inline stores, with an upper level food court. A 16-screen Regal Cinemas adjoined the new food court. These modifications were completed in August 1996. In 1991, Maas Brothers was acquired by Burdines, which closed its original store in September 1991 and consolidated its operation into the Maas Brothers store space in October 1991. This store became a Burdines-Macy's in January 2004 and a full-fledged Macy's in March 2005. The original Burdines space then housed a Montgomery Ward between March 1992 and February 2001. The space re-opened as a Burlington Coat Factory in October 2001. This was likewise done at Tallahassee Mall. Longtime anchor JCPenney closed effective October 1, 2005 as it relocated to a smaller prototype store at the Shops at Wiregrass in nearby Wesley Chapel, which opened in 2008. Steve & Barry's opened on first floor of the JCPenney spot in 2006. In October 2008, the Dillard's opened a store at the Shops at Wiregrass, which led to the conversion of the store from a standard location into a clearance center and the closure of the store's second floor. In January 2009, both Steve & Barry's and Starbucks closed their University Mall locations. University Mall's tenant space is owned by LSREF2 Clover Property 18, LLC and overseen by Hudson Advisers, LLC. CBRE was hired in September 2012 to handle the property management and leasing. In August 2010, the Regal Cinemas closed. It was later purchased by Frank Theatres, who downgraded the theater to 12 screens. Macy's closed in March 2017, and Dillard's Clearance Center relocated into the first floor of the former Macy's space two months later with the second floor of that space closed to the public. Grand's, a Puerto Rican department store, opened in Dillard's previous location in September 2017. The second level of the Grand's space is also vacant. On March 13, 2018, the mall bought their Sears store from the company which will remain during the mall's name change from "University Mall" to "Uptown" as the mall gets a makeover while three new anchors are going into the former JCPenney and Steve and Barry's building. On August 22, 2018, Sears announced that they will close this location as part of 46 additional store closures nationwide. The store closed in November 2018. As part of the conversion of the mall into "Uptown", the closed section of the mall leading up to the former JCPenney building was demolished in February 2019.
