MIAMI—Evidence that there are still steals on the market, UP Development just snapped up oldest major shopping mall in Central Florida for pennies on the dollar of its decade-ago value. UP bought the mall from Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) for $35 million. PREIT paid $123 million for the mall in 2004.
Jim McNeil and Jeff Weiland, shareholders in Akerman Senterifft's Real Estate Practice Group, represented UP Development. UP paid cash for the 1.1 million-square-foot mall, which is anchored by Dillard's, JC Penney, Macy's, and Sears. The site also includes restaurants such as Panera Bread and Olive Garden and the region's only all-digital movie theatre.
"The Orlando retail property market is slowly rebounding," says McNeil. "Fashion Square was one of the first to suffer from the recession, and it is one of the first to come back. It will be a focal attraction not just to local residents and tourists, but national retail tenants a well. Our conversations with the city of Orlando and the tenant base are sure to revitalize Fashion Square."
Orlando Fashion Mall is central to Downtown Orlando, Walt Disney World, many small businesses and some of the area's most affluent neighborhoods. Since 1973, Fashion Square Mall has been a revenue generator to Orlando's economy. The 40-year-old center was last redeveloped more than a decade ago. UP's plans for improving the retail space are not yet finalized.
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