The Florida Mall is a super regional enclosed shopping mall located in unincorporated Orange County, Florida, on the southeast corner of Orange Blossom Trail and Sand Lake Road; it opened in 1986. The facility was developed by Eddie DeBartolo of DeBartolo Realty; it is currently managed by Simon Property Group, which owns 50%, having fallen to Simon following the 1996 merger of Simon and DeBartolo Realty into Simon DeBartolo Group. With 1,849,000 sq ft (171,800 m2) of gross leasable area and over 250 retailers, it is one of the largest single-story malls in the United States.
The Florida Mall is mostly a draw for entertainment and normal mall retailers as the nearby Mall at Millenia handles most of Central Florida's upscale shopping.
The mall is anchored by Dillard's, Macy's, JCPenney, and Sears.
Location
SHOPPING DAY AT THE FLORIDA MALL - We went shopping for a change from going to the theme parks everyday! Hope you enjoy x Twitters: https://twitter.com/hollyandabbie @hollyandabbie ...
The Florida Mall is located close to Orlando International Airport and many other Orlando attractions including Universal Orlando Resort, Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando. The Florida Hotel contains 510 guest rooms and suites. The hotel was built by E.J. DeBartolo and owned in partnership with Pratt Hotel Corporation of Dallas, TX.
History
The mall opened on March 12, 1986 with Sears, JCPenney, Robinson's, and Belk and The Crowne Plaza hotel. In 1993, Dillards opened at the east end. A new wing opened at the east end of the mall with an expanded Dillards and Burdines (now Macy's) in 2000. Belk closed in 1996 and was replaced with Saks Fifth Avenue. Robinson's transitioned to Maison Blanche, then Gayfers, then Parisian, and finally was replaced with Lord & Taylor in 2002. The east wing was expanded again in 2002 with Central Florida's first (and last) Nordstrom, in order to compete with the newly built Mall at Millenia.
The hotel was built by E.J. DeBartolo and owned in partnership with Pratt Hotel Corporation of Dallas, TX. Originally branded as a Crowne Plaza, then as a Sheraton Plaza, the hotel was sold to Adam’s Mark in 1996. In 2004 the hotel was purchased by a group headed by the Bank of Scotland and was renamed The Florida Hotel & Conference Center.
The Florida Mall later lost all of its luxury anchor stores, Lord & Taylor closed in 2006, three years after the company announced store would close. Saks Fifth Avenue closed in 2014 after it was chosen as one of the stores to be closed when purchased by Hudson Bay Co. A few months after Saks closed, the mall received its biggest loss when Nordstrom announced that it would be closing it's Florida Mall location due to under performing sales compared to the rest of the stores. Many Orlando residents were upset after Central Florida's only Nordstrom was closed. It led to much controversy on whether or not Nordstrom would have done better in Orlando if it was located with more upscale shopping like at the Mall at Millenia.
Lord & Taylor was demolished and turned into a new outdoor plaza in 2014. Nordstrom was divided multiple tenants. The Saks Fifth Avenue store was gutted and was repurposed as a new wing with a new dining pavilion. The old food court was closed and renovated into a new entrance to include more retail and dining space.
In Popular Culture
The Florida Mall was prominently featured in a 1989 episode of the TBS cable television series The New Leave It To Beaver.
Transportation
The mall is serviced by Lynx buses (links) 7, 37, 42, 107, 108, 111, 418, and 441.
Right next to the mall stretches the Florida State Road 528 which has an exit at the Orange Blossom Trail (exit 4). The exit is only few exits away from the Orlando International Airport.
References
External links
- The Florida Mall Official Website
