Regency Square Mall General Manager Jim Kramer has taken on the role of interim general manager of Bradenton’s Desoto Square Mall, which is owned by the buyers of Regency Square.
“There are all kinds of opportunities. Just getting them up to standards will take up to 6-8 weeks,” he said Thursday of the 40-year-old DeSoto Square, which has been struggling.
As he seeks to hire a new general manager at DeSoto Square, Kramer will spend a few days a week at Regency Square and commute to Bradenton. Soon, he and his management team will split the commute.
Kramer is stepping in because the mall owners, Mason Asset Management of Great Neck, N.Y., decided not to sell DeSoto Square and instead will work to improve it.
Mason Asset Management bought Regency Square in February and hired Kramer as general manager.
Mason bought the Bradenton mall from Simon Property Group in 2012 for $24.6 million.
Mason had listed DeSoto Square for sale this year, and a three-day online auction in August closed with a high bid of $33.75 million. It remains unclear who placed the highest bid, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.
The newspaper reported Thursday the owners did not accept an offer to buy the 73.5-acre DeSoto Square property, despite receiving a bid that would have made the company a nearly $10 million in profit.
“The company walked away from the offer once they realized that they hadn’t looked closely enough to understand the property’s true value,” Kramer told the newspaper.
“They could have walked away with a substantial profit from a mere two-year investment.”
Kramer said Thursday he was receiving a lot of positive encouragement from DeSoto Square’s tenants.
“They are all curious about what is going to happen,” he said. “I told them we are going to get the mall up to standards, get the mall clean, get the lights repaired in the mall, make it a friendly shopping environment for the family.”
Kramer said the mall also will focus on community involvement, such as hosting events. He said a dog-adoption event is scheduled for two weeks from Saturday.
He said the tenants were relieved to know there would not be another ownership change.
He said the mall’s tenant occupancy was 75 to 82 percent.
“We have a pretty good tenant mix. We have some pretty good traffic,” he said. “They are doing business. They just need to turn it around and do more business.”
The paper said several of Regency Square’s employees will help guide DeSoto Square employees during the transition.
DeSoto Square, a 680,271-square-foot mall, is anchored by Macy’s, JC Penney and Sears. Macy’s will close there before the new 880,000-square-foot Mall at University Town Center opens on Oct. 16.
Kramer told the Sarasota newspaper the goal is to fill that empty space in the next six months.
USNR approved for Phase 2
The city issued a permit Wednesday for USNR, a Woodlands, Wash.-based forest products equipment company, to start the second phase of renovating the Westside warehouse it bought in April at 6630 Broadway Ave.
Gulf Tech Construction LLC is the contractor for the $1.48 million renovation of 150,000 square feet of space. The project includes exterior improvements and tenant improvements in the warehouse of its existing building.
The 170,000-square-foot structure formerly served as a warehouse for Football Fanatics.
In the first phase, Gulf Tech Construction began interior demolition to remove concrete from the floor slab to prepare to handle future bridge cranes. That project was $100,513.
In the second phase, Gulf Tech will make tenant improvements in the warehouse as well as exterior improvements along with site work, utilities, landscaping, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and other upgrades. The warehouse was built in 1974.
USNR has seven divisions in North America, including in Jacksonville at 1220 W. State St., just west of the Kings Road postal facility.
Garrard’s Retro Fitness taking shape
Former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard is building out his first Jacksonville Retro Fitness gym in Harbour Village near Queen’s Harbour Yacht & Country Club.
The city issued the permit Wednesday for Flynn Construction Management General Contracting Inc. to renovate the 13,776-square-foot space at 13475 Atlantic Blvd. at a project cost of $814,792.
Retro Fitness announced in October that Garrard and his wife, Mary, would open three of its gyms, and the first would open within a year.
The 10-year-old Retro Fitness chain was founded by entrepreneur Eric Casaburi, growing from a regional Northeast concept to a national chain with 110 operating units, according to retrofitness.com.
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