Jump to content

Centre of Tallahassee

Add links
Coordinates:30°28′34″N84°17′24″W/ 30.476°N 84.290°W/30.476; -84.290
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Centre of Tallahassee
Looking from Belk towards AMC
Map
LocationTallahassee,Florida,United States
Coordinates30°28′34″N84°17′24″W/ 30.476°N 84.290°W/30.476; -84.290
Opening date1971 (as Tallahassee Mall); 2016 (as Centre of Tallahassee)
DeveloperCafaro Company[1]
ManagementBlackwater Resources LLC
No. of stores and services93
No. ofanchor tenants4
Total retail floor area747,000 square feet (69,400 m2)
No. of floors1 (2 in AMC and Belk wing)
Parking10,230
Websitecentreoftallahassee.com
The former Dillard's wing in Tallahassee Mall inTallahassee, Floridain 2011. The former big box store is now being refitted as a home for a branch campus of a localcharter school.

The Centre of Tallahassee,formerlyTallahassee Mall,is a local semi-enclosed mixed-use shopping, entertainment, and work office complex (formerly a fully enclosedregionalshopping mall) located at the intersection ofNorth Monroe Streetand John Knox Road inTallahassee, Florida.Since the official close of the falteringNorthwood Mallin 1986 (and subsequent repurposing as astrip mall-styledoffice complex), The Tallahassee Mall became the older of two surviving enclosed malls in the Tallahassee area, the other beingGovernor's Square.

The Centre's presentanchor storesincludeAMC Theatres,Ross Dress For Less,andBelk,as well as severalbig-box storesincludingBarnes & NobleandGuitar Center.Other stores that operated in the mall such asSam Goodyhave closed their doors between the initial close of the Tallahassee Mall and its renewal as the Centre of Tallahassee.

History

[edit]

Tallahassee Mall opened in 1971 with three anchor stores:Woolco,GayfersandMontgomery Ward;other major tenants includedMcCrory StoresandWalgreens.[2]Woolco was closed in 1983 and replaced withZayre.Seven years later, this anchor becameAmeswhen the Zayre chain was acquired.[3]

A new wing was added behind Montgomery Ward in 1992. This new wing ended in a fourth anchor store,Parisian.[4]As a result of this wing opening, the Montgomery Ward store was bisected by a new mall concourse to connect the new wing to the existing mall. Development was also to have includedKmartmoving into the former Ames space, plus the addition ofMervyn’s.[5]Afterward, then-manager Tom Strauss was fired by the mall's owners, Westinghouse, and the mall's management was sold toEdward J. DeBartoloCorporation. In 1995, a local group took over from DeBartolo.[6]

Despite the opening ofService Merchandiseand the first Tallahassee-areaGoody's Family Clothingstore in the former Ames in 1995,[7]mall occupancy had decreased to forty-five percent by June of that year.[4]

A twenty-screen movie theater owned byAMC Theatreswas added to the Parisian wing in 1996.[8]Gayfers was acquired byDillard'sin 1998, followed by the closure of two more anchors: Service Merchandise in 1999 and Montgomery Ward in 2000.Jones Lang LaSalleacquired the mall and then began renovations on it. The former was split betweenRoss Dress for LessandShoe Carnival,[4]while the latter becameBurlington Coat Factoryand other stores. Several newbig-box storeswere added, includingOshman's,Barnes & NobleandGuitar Center.

Feldman Mall Properties acquired the mall from Jones Lang LaSalle in 2005.[9]Belkacquired the Parisian chain in 2007 and downgraded the Tallahassee Mall store as Belk, while Dillard's announced its closure in early 2008.[10] The mall went intoforeclosurein January 2011.[11]Later in the same month, a real estate company based inMiamibought its ground lease for $100. It was then announced that the mall was not expected to close,[12]in spite of its increasingly common reputation as adead mall.[13]

Renovation as The Centre of Tallahassee

[edit]

Renovations on the mall began in September 2014, including a planned demolition of the former Dillard's space, prior to a change of plans that resulted in the continued presence of the big box store so that it could be refitted. At the time renovation began, only 12 stores were open.[14]At the same time, the mall was renamed Centre of Tallahassee.[15]The Centre (formerly mall) was refitted so that a number of its former hallways would resemble the roads and paths of a town square in a traditional Swiss or Austrianburg,including cobbled walkways suitable for both slow-moving automotives and pedestrian foot traffic. Beginning with a liquor bar built into the AMC movie theater, a number of new commercial businesses were then established in the newly refurbished Centre of Tallahassee, including Urban Food Market, anorganic foodgrocery store,wine bar,anddeli,plus a branch campus of the popular Tallahassee charter middle school School of Arts and Sciences (locally known as SAS) located in the Centre of Tallahassee's former Dillard's anchor wing. Changes also included an outdooramphitheaterintended for public local concerts. Between 2016 and 2018, popular and notable music artists such asSteve Miller Band,Dashboard Confessional,Coolio,Willie Nelson,Blink 182,andAlice Cooperwere booked and played successful live shows at the venue, drawing in a respectably sized audience from the Leon County and surrounding areas. During this time, Belk and AMC planned renovations as the mall transformed into the Centre of Tallahassee.

The Alex Baker Era and the End of Commercial Redevelopment Plans

[edit]

In addition to Ross Dress For Less, Barnes and Noble, Guitar Center, and Burlington Coat factory, a few staples of the former Tallahassee Mall in the new Centre of Tallahassee that remained included: Tara's, a hobbyiststrategy board gamestore; Stone Age, aNew Ageparaphernalia store; and GameScape, aDesktop Computer-basedvideo game arcadeandcomic book store.All of these stores remained consistently popular attractions with local clientele during the initial decline of the former Tallahassee Mall and its carefully directed transition into the Centre of Tallahassee. For some time, an upscale hotel-styleapartment complexhad been planned by the developers to complement and accompany the newly refurbished Centre of Tallahassee.[16]However, some businesses that have occupied space in both the Tallahassee Mall and Centre of Tallahassee iterations of the shopping center were recently forced to relocate outside of the Centre to make way for new office space.[17]

While the renovation project was often criticized by Tallahassee locals as awhite elephant,the developers had hoped that the presence of a school as well as a number of new restaurants (including Lemongrass, aSoutheast Asiancuisine restaurant, andcraft beerbar and a planned brewery plus the first expansion of theDreamland Bar-B-Quechain into Florida) and entertainment venues (including a seasonalice skating rink) would allow the new Centre of Tallahassee to thrive as a commercial success. Alex Baker, one of the main developers of the renovation project, died in 2017,[18]with an adverse effect on the project of reviving the Centre. At the moment, the Centre of Tallahassee is undergoing another redevelopment into an office complex.

Non-retail tenant era and transition to office complex

[edit]

In addition to a charter school, twoPublic sectoragencies, theFlorida Department of Stateand theFlorida Department of Children and Families,have put in a bid for office space at the Centre of Tallahassee, in the latter case to replace office space previously leased from the Northwood Centre (former Northwood Mall). The Florida Department of Children and Families' lease has been confirmed to take place within a timespan of 2018-2019.[17]The Tallahassee Democrat has interpreted these bids as a sign that the developers’ plan for the Centre has been dropped or shifted gears since Alex Baker's death.[19]

Locally, the prospect of these agencies moving into the Centre of Tallahassee has proven controversial. This is in part due to the precedent established bystate governmentoffices previously housed in the Northwood Centre.[20]Additionally, store owners based in the Centre, including the owners of longtime commercial staples such as Stone Age and gamescape, were asked to relocate to make way for possible office space leased by these agencies.[17]Along with Burlington Coat Factory, these businesses both now occupy other locations outside of the Centre.

As of 2019, a large portion of the Mall has been internally partitioned and spaces have been claimed by the Department of State, Department of Children and Families and the Department of Health.[21][22]However, some plans for retail use still remain, as the current developers plan for branches of Tom Thumb and Culver's to move into previously occupied space in the former mall.[23]

As of 2023, the Centre of Tallahassee was slated to be sold in a foreclosure auction.[24]

This announcement was followed by Dreamland BBQ closing its Centre of Tallahassee location in June 2024, further solidifying the gradual change from shopping center to public sector office space,[25]as well as anticipating a possible change in ownership of the property.

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Cafaro Brothers to Retire Effective Jan. 1 | Business Journal Daily".businessjournaldaily.com.Archived fromthe originalon 28 June 2013.Retrieved22 May2022.
  2. ^"Florida".Chain Store Age.Lehbar-Friedman. 1971.
  3. ^"Feldmans Days are numbered with the Tallahassee Mall".Urban Tallahassee.4 December 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 21 March 2012.Retrieved10 July2011.
  4. ^abc"Tallahassee Mall - Jones Lang LaSalle Retail".Jones Lang LaSalle.Archived fromthe originalon 2007-07-26.Retrieved2007-12-05.
  5. ^Schneyer, Fred A. (July 15, 1992)."Tallahassee+mall" + "kmart" "Strauss' mall goal: fill 'er up".Tallahassee Democrat.pp. 1D, 3D.Retrieved30 September2017.
  6. ^"Tallahassee+mall" + "strauss" "Tallahassee Mall sale finalized".Tallahassee Democrat.June 28, 1995. p. 7D.Retrieved30 September2017.
  7. ^Schneyer, Fred A. (1995-01-11)."OUTLOOK '95: Tallahassee, Fla., Retailers Ring Up Healthy Sales".Tallahassee Democrat.Archived fromthe originalon 2011-05-16.Retrieved2007-12-05.
  8. ^"Compass Retail, Inc. Managed Properties".The Partnership.com.Retrieved2007-12-05.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^"Feldman Mall Properties Purchases Major Lease at Tallahassee Mall".Business Wire.2005-12-28.Retrieved2007-12-05.
  10. ^"Dillard's to Close Another Store, But Says Openings Outpace Closings".Arkansas Business.com.Retrieved2007-12-05.
  11. ^"Tallahassee Mall for Sale".WCTV.6 January 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 21 July 2011.Retrieved29 January2011.
  12. ^Portman, Jennifer (26 January 2011)."Tallahassee Mall lease bought by Miami-based company".Tallahassee Democrat.Retrieved29 January2011.
  13. ^"Tallahassee Mall: Tallahassee, Florida on DeadMalls.com".DeadMalls.com.
  14. ^Andy Alcock."Tallahassee Mall Reconstruction Beginning".Retrieved19 February2016.
  15. ^"Progress continues at Centre of Tallahassee mall".Tallahassee Democrat.29 July 2015.Retrieved19 February2016.
  16. ^"Posh apartments planned at Centre of Tallahassee".Tallahassee Democrat.
  17. ^abcCarbone, Mariel (July 20, 2018)."Businesses pushed out as state agency leases space at the Centre of Tallahassee".wctv.tv.
  18. ^"Centre of Tallahassee mall developer dies".
  19. ^"DCF, Department of State may move to Centre of Tallahassee mall".Tallahassee Democrat.Retrieved2018-07-01.
  20. ^"State employees are a death knell for a mall | Opinion".
  21. ^Francis, Brenda (April 12, 2019)."Demolished or relocating: Businesses are on the move in Tallahassee commercial real estate scene".Tallahassee Democrat.RetrievedJuly 13,2019.
  22. ^Call, James (December 28, 2018)."State workers to get new digs at the Centre of Tallahassee in 2019".Tallahassee Democrat.RetrievedJuly 13,2019.
  23. ^"Centre of Tallahassee".Archived fromthe originalon 2021-02-26.
  24. ^"The Centre of Tallahassee mall is slated to be sold in a foreclosure auction".WFSU News.August 21, 2023.
  25. ^https://www.wctv.tv/2024/06/14/watch-local-blues-musicians-play-final-jam-session-dreamland-bar-b-que-restaurant-prepares-close-down/
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related toCentre of Tallahassee.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Centre_of_Tallahassee&oldid=1229094676"