Photo by Wyatt Kostygan: Octavio Ortiz speaks at an anniversary event at The Mall at University Town Center

The Mall at University Town Center has been the largest development to transform University Park, but won’t be the last. At an event celebrating the coming one-year anniversary of the Taubman Centers mall, Benderson Development officials announced plans to open a movie theater and a cluster of new hotels and announced space has been leased north of University Parkway for a new restaurant and several other retailers. “We are always asking what else we can do to enhance the area,” said Mark Chait, executive director of Leasing-Southeast for Benderson. “Know our commitment.”

Taubman Centers hosted a media breakfast Wednesday morning to tout a year’s worth of success in the $315-million mall, which has seen another 25 businesses, including Microsoft and Arhaus, open inside the center since it first opened on Oct. 16, 2014. Another business is under construction, and there has been only one closure—Caché, which closed all locations nationwide. The mall has created some 2,000 permanent jobs, and the construction of the mall created 1,000 construction jobs as well. “We have been very happy,” said Octavio Ortiz, general manager for UTC. Stores are looking forward to having last-year numbers now to compare. To date, he said, retailers have been pleased with the locale.

Chait noted that the Benderson-owned retail centers around the mall have seen extraordinary success as well. None of the spaces in a Target-anchored center on Cattlemen Road south of University Parkway have ever remained vacant, and construction is underway on a Rusty Bucket and other stores. In a 19,000-square-foot project planned north of University, the Tableseide Restaurant Group will open the new Oak and Stone restaurant concept. Benderson has signed leases with Newk's Eatery, Menchies, JPan and others to locate in different parts of the University Park shopping areas. There are also plans for a new movie theater near the mall, Chait said, and tourism officials cheered the plans for four hotels in the area.

As for the mall itself, the first year of business has been insightful for retailers. Mindie Camus, store manager for eyewear boutique Edward Beiner, said the store has been looking forward to the October through January period. “We’ve actually done pretty well,” she said. “We are looking forward to season.” This is the 12th and furthest north Beiner location, and Camus acknowledged the company hoped more foot traffic would go through the mall, but the store has still performed well in terms of revenue thanks to the high-powered consumers in the Sarasota area. The more high-end products are sold, and consumers will often buy multiple pairs, she said, so that has balanced out any traffic disappointments. 

And retailers like Banana Moon Swimwear have been surprised at the taste of buyers. “I thought we would need more moderal, older swimwear,” said Christel Hathaway, Banama Moon director of sales for the U.S., Central and South America. “But a lot of young people are here. I thought we would need something different in terms of cuts and I had to really adjust. We had requests for more small bottoms and for what was trendy. It was a pleasant surprise.”

Photo by Wyatt Kostygan: Octavio Ortiz speaks at an anniversary event at The Mall at University Town Center