Rebound Time

Jerrell M. Davis knows he has a long, hard climb ahead in turning around the struggling DeSoto Square Mall in Bradenton. Maybe not as tough a proverbial hill as he faced when he was a U.S. Army colonel in Vietnam, but a tough slog nonetheless.

Pummeled by vacancies, crime that has at times seeped into the Bradenton mall's expansive parking lot and heightened competition from the gleaming $315 million Mall at University Town Center a short drive away, DeSoto Square has lost its luster in recent years.

Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall owner and one of the sector's most sophisticated operators, bailed on the 678,000-square-foot mall following last decade's recession when the property's debt exceeded its value.

Mason Asset Management, of New York, never quite gained traction in its five-year effort to rehabilitate the 44-year-old mall, especially after anchor department stores Dillard's and Macy's both abandoned the place.

But Davis, the president of new mall property manager Madison Properties USA, believes there's still hope.

He contends DeSoto Owners LLC, a group led by Brooklyn investor Meyer Lebovits that acquired the mall for $25.5 million last month, will lure customers and merchants alike back with TLC and millions of dollars in renovations.

First up, Madison intends to cure deferred maintenance, with new LED lighting, improved signage and parking lot enhancements.

By the end of this summer, he hopes to have a new first-run movie theater with at least six screens in place, which would, in turn, help land the trio of new sit-down restaurants — along the lines of Applebees, Bennigan's or Ruby Tuesday — he's working to bring in.

“The idea is that members of the community would be able to come to dinner at the mall and go to a movie, making DeSoto Square more of a destination, the way it used to be back in the day,” says Davis, 70, who has spent the past four decades in real estate development and construction.

“Our existing community, they're not focused on high-end restaurants. They shop at J.C. Penney and Sears, and they want something down the middle, with a price point for dinner between $10 and $15.”

Davis knows, too, that luring quality retailers back to DeSoto Square won't be easy, either. The mall is roughly 50% vacant now, as dozen of tenants from Chik-Fil-A to apparel retailers have left in recent years, together with the department stores.

Today, a pair of once-powerhouse department stores that have of late appeared on the brink of demise — J.C. Penney and Sears — anchor DeSoto Square. Hudson's Furniture occupies a spot Dillard's left more than two years ago, shortly before the Mall at UTC debuted.

“We know we're not going to get another Macy's to come to DeSoto Square,” Davis says. “But we still have a roster of quality, national tenants, like Victoria's Secret. We plan to accentuate that. What we don't want is to use the word 'value.' We're not going to turn DeSoto into a flea market atmosphere. The community there is working class and they want good, solid, middle-of-the-road retailers. Hudson's and Penney's are our model, and they're already there.”

Davis also will have to contend with macro-economic American consumer trends that are pushing purchases increasingly online, or to either upper-end stores like Saks Fifth Avenue — a Mall at UTC anchor — or to discount chains like T.J. Maxx and Marshall's.

Though it may be little consolation, enclosed malls throughout the Gulf Coast have had to retrench — or change direction entirely — to adapt to modern consumer preferences.

Clearwater Mall in Clearwater, University Mall in Tampa and the Seminole City Center in Pinellas County have all had to make major changes to stay viable. Westfield Corp.'s Southgate Mall, in Sarasota, has undergone significant work, as well, amid tenant losses to the Mall at UTC.

Perhaps most drastically, the owner of the former East Lake Square Mall converted its 1 million-square-foot property to office space, calculating that its aging property wouldn't survive a retail onslaught from newer malls. Today, Netpark Tampa Bay is a viable office hub.

As for Sears and Penney, Davis says he has no indication either anchor plans on leaving DeSoto anytime soon. Sears owns its store at the mall and the acreage beneath it; the Bradenton J.C. Penney store recently escaped being among 140 properties nationwide the retailer targeted for termination.

“We're moving ahead with our plans whether they are there or not,” says Davis, who once owned a contracting firm called Primrose Construction.

“What makes us unique is that we have construction and management expertise in-house,” he says. “We have 40 different centers we manage nationwide, so we understand what has to go on at DeSoto Square.

“And we're long-term investors. DeSoto Owners is not in this to flip it. We'll look at various things, including residential, but we're not at that stage yet.”

For now, Davis and Lebovits are focused on resurrecting the tired mall with relatively short-term enhancements and fresh tenants.

“We want to bring DeSoto back to a place for entertainment and shopping,” Davis says. “We feel the traffic around the property will support it. We plan on offering a shared vision with the community. We're not some smoke-and-mirror operation. The mall has been neglected, but we're going to make it exciting for people and retailers to come back.”