Florence Mall is an indoor shopping mall in Florence, Kentucky, United States. Built in 1976 by Homart Development Company, the mall originally featured Sears, Shillito's, Pogue's, and JCPenney as its four anchor stores. The mall features over 100 stores and a food court. Another notable feature of the mall is the Florence Y'all Water Tower on the mall property; this water tower originally bore the mall's name, but was altered prior to the mall's opening. The mall's anchor stores are JCPenney and two locations of Macy's, with the former location of Sears being vacant. Florence Mall is owned and managed by Namdar Realty Group.
 Center court of Florence Mall, August 2019 | |
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| Location | Florence, Kentucky |
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| Coordinates | 38°59′44.97″N 84°39′0.51″W / 38.9958250°N 84.6501417°W |
| Address | 2028 Florence Mall Florence, Kentucky 41042 |
| Opening date | 1976 |
| Developer | Homart Development Company |
| Management | Namdar Realty Group |
| Owner | Mason Asset Management Namdar Realty Group |
| No. of stores and services | 101 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 (3 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 963,727 sq ft (89,533 m2)[1] |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Public transit access |  TANK |
| Website | florencemall |
| [2] | |
History
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Florence Mall opened in 1976 on a site along Interstate 75 just south of Kentucky Route 18. The two-story mall was constructed by Homart Development Company, the real estate division of Sears. Sears also served as one of the anchor stores, opening on March 10, 1976.[3] The mall itself opened six months later, with Pogue's serving as the second anchor.[4] Two more anchors, Shillito's and JCPenney, were added in 1977 and 1978, respectively. At the time of opening, the mall had 87 stores.[4] The mall's opening led to the development of several retail stores in Florence, and as a result, the city became a retail hub for northern Kentucky.[5]
While JCPenney remained the same throughout the mall's history, the other three anchor stores changed as chains were acquired, merged or closed. The Shillito's chain was merged with Rike's and all former Shillito's and Rike's stores briefly carried the dual branding of Shillito-Rike's from 1982 until 1986, when the chain was merged into Lazarus. Pogue's was converted to L.S. Ayres in 1983, which in turn sold its store to Hess's five years later. Also in the mid-1980s, the food court was renovated.
Hess's closed in 1993, and one year later, Lazarus moved its home goods into the former Hess's space. During the 1990s, the mall underwent an $8 million renovation, including the addition of 64 new tenants.[6]
In 2003, the mall was acquired by General Growth Properties in partnership with the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. General Growth had managed the property for several years prior.[7] Both Lazarus stores were converted to Lazarus-Macy's in 2003, then to just Macy's in 2005. The food court was renovated again in 2004.
On August 22, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing in November 2018.[8]
Brookfield Properties sold the mall in 2021 with JLL managing the mall.[9] On June 15, 2022, the mall was sold again to Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group, with Mason overseeing leading efforts and Namdar managing the mall.[10]
Water tower
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Two years before the mall's opening, a water tower was built between the mall and Interstate 75 with "Florence Mall" painted in large letters on two opposite sides. But when the city was informed that this commercial advertisement was illegal as the mall did not yet exist, Florence's then-mayor C.M. "Hop" Ewing came up with the idea of changing the "M" in "Mall" to a "Y" and adding an apostrophe, changing the text to "Florence Y'all".[11] The tower has since become a major landmark for the city.
References
edit- ^ "FLORENCE MALL". namdarrealtygroup.com. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
- ^ "Florence Mall". Brookfield Properties Retail Group.
- ^ Wilson, Denise (July 25, 2001). "Florence Mall marks 25 years". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013.
- ^ a b Driehaus, Bob (September 22, 2001). "Mall led way for regional shopping". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013.
- ^ Peale, Cliff (September 18, 1996). "At 20, Florence Mall is retail king". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013.
- ^ Friedberg, Mary (May 28, 1997). "New stores keep Florence Mall fresh". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013.
- ^ Paeth, Greg (December 20, 2002). "Florence Mall sold to firm from Chicago". The Kentucky Post.[dead link]
- ^ Key, Jennie; Reinert, Melissa (August 23, 2018). "Sears closings will affect future of Florence, Northgate malls". Cincinnati Enquirer.
- ^ "Florence Mall changes ownership after $90M loan default". WCPO. 2021-02-05. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
- ^ "Florence Mall has been sold to ownership group that includes Mason Asset Management, Namdar Realty | NKyTribune". Retrieved 2022-07-15.
- ^ Schmitt, Erin (July 2, 2017). "The Shape of Water Towers: An Engineering History". Municipal Sewer & Water Magazine.