Saks Fifth Avenue vacating Southgate

With the announcement Tuesday that Saks Fifth Avenue will be an anchor tenant at the new Mall at University Town Center in East Sarasota, the pending closure of its Westfield Southgate Mall Saks location in 2014 creates more questions and concerns for the Sarasota mall.

“We are moving the other store to this store,” Saks spokesperson Kathleen Ruiz confirmed, noting the new anchor space will more than double the store’s size. “We are excited about really expanding our store. This will allow us to showcase an increased assortment of designer offerings and deliver even more special services and amenities to our loyal Sarasota customers.”

The move and the loss of Saks was rumored for months but still sent shockwaves throughout a Sarasota community that now is worried about the future of the mall and its surrounding area.

At least one Sarasota developer thinks the mall might not be able to recover from the pending loss of a major anchor store.

Downtown developer John Simon, who has helped lure several mall anchor tenants to malls, told the Sarasota Observer there currently are only six major mall anchor tenants —Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s, Macy’s, Nieman Marcus, Nordstrom and Belk.

“There are no other players, and Westfield Southgate has now lost (Saks Fifth Avenue),” Simon said. “It’s hard to recover after losing an anchor, and if I’m a Westfield Southgate official, I’m very concerned.”

Westfield officials told the Sarasota Observer they won’t speak about current or potential tenants but noted the mall has submitted plans for a major renovation. However, Westfield officials do not have a construction timeline for the renovation project.

“We are continually looking for ways to expand our properties,” said Catharine Dickey, Westfield executive vice president of corporate communications.

Dickey said she can’t disclose which stores or comment on any discussions that might be occurring with possible future tenants to replace the loss of Saks Fifth Avenue.

Macy’s also announced a new location at the East Sarasota mall, but the department store has no plans to close its Westfield Southgate location, which is good news for the mall. Jim Sluzewski, senior vice president of corporate communications and external affairs for Macy’s, said the opening of its store at the Mall at University Town Center would not impact stores it operates in the area, including at the Southgate and Sarasota Square malls in Sarasota and DeSoto Square Mall in Bradenton.

“Sarasota-Bradenton is an important and growing market for Macy’s, and the building of the Mall at (University Town Center) was a good opportunity for a new store,” he said. “We have no plans to close any Macy’s store anywhere in the country.”

Dillard’s officials expressed excitement about coming to the mall.

“We are very excited about Taubman’s vision for the Mall at University Town Center,” Dillard’s spokesperson Julie Bull said. “We have enjoyed a very strong presence in Sarasota since 1992. We have been in operation in Florida since 1989. We know Floridians and we love serving them. I think this underscores our commitment to the area.”

When asked if the opening of the new location would result in closures of other Dillard’s locations in Sarasota, Bull replied: “The company has made no announcements about future closings in the area. Our focus today is on the opening of the store at University Town Center.”

What is west Sarasota’s loss, meanwhile, is Benderson Development’s gain out east.

East County-based Benderson Development announced Tuesday it has partnered with Michigan-based Taubman Centers Inc. in the development of its high-end mall slated for the southwest intersection of University Parkway and Interstate 75. The mall will include Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s and Macy’s as anchors for the 880,000-square-foot Mall at University Town Center, on which the partners expect to start construction later this year. A fourth department store should be announced at a later date.

In total, the two-story, $315 million shopping center will include about 115 stores, more than half of which will be new to the market. Saks will occupy an 80,000-square-foot space, while Macy’s and Dillard’s will occupy 160,000- and 180,000-square-foot spaces, respectively.

“We’re extremely excited to partner with Taubman and to be moving forward and recommencing this project and finally bringing it to fruition,” said Mark Chait, Benderson’s executive director of leasing. “I think the entire area has felt it is a much needed multi-use project that will tremendously enhance the landscape of this area.

“We think the quality of our anchor tenants speaks highly to both the need for a upscale fashion mall in the greater Sarasota market as well as the quality of the University Parkway corridor location,” he said.

The mall is slated to open in the fall of 2014.

Taubman, a real estate investment trust, and Benderson, one of the largest privately held real estate companies nationwide, each will own 50% of the mall. Taubman will responsible for development, management and leasing.

Taubman owns or has co-developed several other premier shopping destinations in Florida, including International Plaza in Tampa, the Mall at Millenia in Orlando and Waterside Shops at Pelican Bay in Naples.