TAMPA BAY CENTER: TAMPA, FL
Emilio Diaz's Commentary:
Posted March 15, 2005 (user submitted March 12, 2005)
I went to drop my friend off at the still functional Bus Stop at Tampa Bay Center yesterday and saw ( to my great sorrow..seriously ) that they are tearing down Tampa Bay Center...to build...what? I don't know! Maybe a Parking Lot for the stupid Buccaneer Stadium or..who knows? Anyway, I wish they weren't tearing this mall down. I have a lot of fond childhood memories of the mall.
Jackson Harris's Commentary:
Posted March 15, 2005 (user submitted March 7, 2005)
Recently (Last Week), Tampa Bay Center was demolished to make room
for a new Buccanears training center.
Jim Ellwanger's Commentary:
Posted February 6, 2005 (user submitted June 12, 2004)
Tampa Bay Center, at the corner of Himes Avenue and Buffalo Avenue (later Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.) in Tampa, right across Himes from Tampa Stadium, opened in 1976. It was a 2-story mall with an anchor at each end: Burdines on the east side, Sears on the west side. In the mid-1980s, a third anchor store was built on the south side, a Montgomery Ward, replacing a freestanding store nearby (at Dale Mabry and Interstate 275, where a Wal-Mart now stands). After the expansion, it was 895,000 square feet.
There was also a General Cinema movie theater inside the mall near Sears -- with only two screens, if I recall correctly. It closed sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s.
The parking lot on the north side had an unusual-for-flat-central-Florida slope to it that meant that the mall entrance on that side of the building was on the second floor, leading directly into the food court.
While I was growing up in the 1980s in south Tampa, I preferred going to West Shore Plaza, which not only had a video arcade, but also had a live, talking parrot in the kids' department of the Maas Brothers department store. However, I remember going to Tampa Bay Center more often, especially to Sears.
In the late 1980s, as a result of Federated taking over Allied Stores, Maas Brothers' locations were either closed or converted to Burdines stores. The West Shore Plaza location was one of those converted, and so for much of the 1990s, there were two Burdines stores within a couple of miles of each other.
Because Tampa Stadium was slightly off the north-south axis, Tampa Bay Buccaneers play-by-play announcer Gene Deckerhoff used to describe action moving from north to south as going "towards the shopping center," meaning Tampa Bay Center.
When I moved out of Tampa in 1997, Tampa Bay Center was still doing well, but within the next few years, the bottom dropped out. Montgomery Ward closed in 1999, and the Burdines followed soon afterwards (actually, Burdines moved to the new Citrus Park Town Center mall northwest of Tampa). Tampa Bay Center hung on with only Sears, but then International Plaza opened nearby in 2001. International Plaza had lured Dillard's away from West Shore Plaza, and in early 2002, Sears moved into the old Dillard's location. Tampa Bay Center closed entirely after that; I'm not sure if there were any smaller stores or restaurants remaining by the end to be kicked out.
There was some talk of replacing the mall with a collection of big box stores, but in the end, the Rouse Company sold the mall and the property to a company controlled by Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In early 2004, the team announced that new team offices and a practice facility would be built on the site.
Jonathan Rushnak's Commentary:
Posted February 6, 2005 (user submitted)
Jonathan Rushnak's Commentary:
Posted February 6, 2005 (user submitted)
Tampa Bay Center opened in 1976 as one of Tampa's premier malls. The mall featured Sears, Burdine's, Montgomery Ward, as well as the Bay area's first Food Court.
Throughout the 70s and 80s, the mall was a great success. By the 90s, the mall began to show its age. Bigger and newer malls were on the horizon in Tampa and Tampa Bay Center was not prepared.
The first blow to the mall came in 1998 when Burdines made plans to close one of the three ancor positions at the east end of the mall. The Rouse Company, managers of the mall, were unsuccessful at attracting another anchow tenant to the aging mall. The next blow came in 1999 when Citrus Park Town Center opened up in Tampa's newer northwest neighborhood, attracting many shoppers. Another blow came in 2000 when Montgomery Ward went out of business, leaving another large vacancy in the mall. Two more blows proved deadly to the mall. In 2001, International Plaza, a
much bigger and more modern mall, opened just blocks from Tampa Bay Center. Finally in 2002, the mall's last anchor, moved to West Shore Plaza. Without any anchors and more glamourous malls within
close proximity, unsimpathetic shoppers just simply quit returning to Tampa Bay Center and
the mall finally died. It proves that Tampa is a big enough
city to support several regional malls at the same time.
There is hope for the mall's location. It rests in the shadows of Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Plans are to raze the mall and build a new training facility for the Buccaneers.
Dennis Nolan's Commentary:
Posted February 6, 2005 (user submitted)
Tampa Bay Center was THE mall to be in , in the late 80's, although it was located right next to Tampa Stadium, which caused parking & shopping madness during home games of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It is situated less than 3 miles from Tampa's oldest enclosed mall, West Shore Plaza. West Shore's owners took a huge gamble in the early 90's by doing a complete remodel and then lured what would be the first Saks Fifth Avenue to the west coast of Florida. Meanwhile 2 brand new malls had opened their doors to shopper in Tampa Bay, Brandon Town Center & Citrus Park Town Center. The "other" major shopping mall, University Square did a quick make-over and has survived, although the attempt to change the name to just plain, University Mall has not been accepted by and large, it is still a square place to shop.
So, fickle shoppers has begun to abandon Tampa Bay Center and it's anchors have followed. First Burdines closed their doors 4 years ago, followed by the nationwide closing of Montgomery Wards. To date, Sears is the only anchor left along with about half a dozen small stores & only 2 or 3 eateries in the food court. Sears will be moving to West Shore Plaza later this year, to take the place of Dillard's which moved to a new home in the brand spanking new International Plaza, located right between West Shore & Tampa Bay Center, featuring our first Nordstrom's, Neiman Marcus & Lord & Taylor. I think that WestShore will surely struggle although they just completed the final phase of their remodeling, adding 2 upscale restaurants (to attempt to compete with International Plaza's NINE sit down restaurants!), a complete overhaul of its dated food court and the addition of 2 more parking garages and a 14 screen multiplex cinema.
Photos:
Exclusive Deadmalls.com Photos of Tampa Bay Center
submitted by Rich Kummerlowe from Orange Roof.org, a site dedicated to the preservation of the memory of Howard Johnson's.
"It refers to the deserted mall as if it were a major attraction."
-- Comment from Andrew Morse who submitted this pic.
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Christopher Heyn’s Commentary:
User submitted Mar 2007During the 1980s, when I lived in Tampa, there were only two significant indoor malls in the area: Westshore Plaza and Tampa Bay Center. At the time, Westshore still reeked of its late '60s-early '70s design, and it was laid out in a seemingly aimless and inefficient single-story pattern that made it difficult to get from one end of the mall to the other. Tampa Bay Center, on the other hand, was the area's gleaming shopping jewel, all chrome and glass and girders--*very* 1980s!--with two levels of stores and an expansive skylight which ran from end to end, which was its most striking architectural feature. Tampa Bay Center was also a great place to escape the downpour of a typical summer thundershower, and watching the dark clouds and lightning through the skylight was a unique addition to the shopping experience. Given the mall's rat
her hollow construction, a high-decibel roar would fill the space during these times as well.
As a high-school student, Tampa Bay Center was best for clothes shopping, as there was a greater selection of trendy clothing stores (although it's now embarrassing to think that anyone considered Dejaiz to be hip or trendy). The mall also featured a two-screen General Cinemas, but the theaters themselves were relatively small and they tended to show Z-grade action movies like "Battle Beyond the Stars." No wonder it closed. Surprisingly, for such a large mall, there was no video game arcade. You had to go to Dream Machine at Westshore Plaza if you wanted to get your pinball or Pac-Man fix.
Parking was ample, and getting in and out of the mall was easy--the best way was through the second-floor food court which had a very large entrance and plenty of bike rack space. Given Tampa Bay Center's location, you would have thought the mall would have lasted for many decades to come, but I guess any mall can be a future victim of abandoment if the circumstances are right.
Andy Callahan’s Commentary:
User submitted Mar 2007As a kid, Tampa Bay Center was the place to be. Westshore Mall, the other neaby mall to me, was pretty dingy and was at it's low point. Tampa Bay Center was a thriving, bustling place to go. I remember there was a large carousel in the mall that provided entertainment for a young kid. One time, the play "Cats" came to Tampa. There was some promotional thing where the actors were at the mall, near the center concourse fountains, and they would let you put on the Cats masks and they'd put face paint on you. My parents took me there and I ended up getting all that ridiculous paint put on me. It did pay off; I was filmed by Channel 8 and I saw myself on the news for like 3 seconds. Also, there was an elevator with a glass wall so you could see out onto the center concourse. This, of course, also amused a young kid!
Tampa Bay Center was the first mall that I'd ever been to that had 2 stories. At the time, for me, it was just unfathomable for a mall to have 2 stories. The food court was another place of interest. From the north parking lot, you could walk into the food court. What was cool about this was that the lot was on a slight hill, so you'd walk straight onto the 2nd floor.
I don't remember many of the stores in the mall. I remember there was an exciting-looking arcade in the mall. There was a Spencer's Gifts which I used to think was the coolest store ever. (Oh the naive mind of a kid. I don't think I got half the gags in that store. I can only imagine what my grandfather thought when I brought him in there.) A toy store was on the 2nd floor by the food court. Right outside Sears on the 2nd story was a pet store for the longest time. It's the only pet store I'd seen that sold puppies. As for the anchors, I vividly remember Sears. For some reason, I remember the garden, automotive, and lawnmower sections. There was a photo studio where I remember wasn't a fun place for a little kid. What little kid likes to get dressed up and made to sit in front of a camera? The television department was cool because they had video cameras on sale hooked up to the TVs so you could see yourself on the TV as you walked by. As for
Burdines and Montgomery Ward, I barely remember them for whatever reason. Or maybe some of my Sears memories are mixed in with them?
As I got older, we went to Tampa Bay Center less and less, probably because it was dying. I must have been about 10 or 11 when I went to the mall for the last time and I only went into Sears. I suppose the mall was becoming rundown. It was dark inside; many of the stores were rusty. Ceiling tiles were stained and saggy. I was heartbroken when I saw the carousel, home to many memories, was dismantled.
I suppose Tampa Bay Center didn't try to save itself. I don't think it was ever really remodled. Westshore Mall remodled and quickly became Tampa's best mall once again. Citrus Park Mall opened up. International Mall opened up a mere 2 or 3 miles away, while Westshore was still only maybe 4 miles away. Burdines had acquired Maas Brothers (which had a store in Westshore which became a Burdines) and operated 2 stores within 4 miles of each other. Needless to say, the Tampa Bay Center location proved to be a loss and they closed. Montgomery Ward went bankrupt. Westshore's Dillard's moved to International and Sears left Tampa Bay Center to fill the space at Westshore. The mall stood empty for awhile, then was demolished. Half the mall (the east half.
i.e. Burdines) became the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training facility. The rest of the lot is empty but used for stadium parking. The bus station still remains and was built using the same design the mall entryways were built. The Sears Drive and Burdines Drive streetsigns are still up as well.
In the end, Tampa Bay Center had a good run as a mall. However, competition, store failures, and refusal to update caused the mall to fail as a whole. As the mall fell and eventually was demolished, many childhood memories also became buried under the rubble of what was once Tampa's premier shopping establishment.
Here are some pictures from December 2002 after the mall was closed and only Sears remained open.
http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d3/ferret111/Tampa%20Bay%20Center/