Eagle Ridge Mall is a regional, enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

located on the north side of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It has only one anchor store:

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

. It also has an Escape Room X, a

Regal Cinemas Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with over 7,200 screens i ...

which has twelve theatres, and Lake Wales Bowling, a large entertainment center, which contains a bowling alley, a large video arcade, a restaurant and meeting rooms. On the north side of the mall is a large food court and a carousel.

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

relocated from the Winter Haven Mall, in nearby Winter Haven.

History

In June 1998, a large

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

appeared in the children's play area, in the central pedestrian traffic corridor of the mall. This hole measured across and deep. While efforts to stabilize and fix this sinkhole were underway, a second sinkhole developed in the Sears store. These were stabilized and all areas of the mall were reopened. The publication of

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

in October 1999 contained a study detailing how these sinkholes were fixed. In 2000,

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, ...

had proposed to relocate to the mall from Northgate Shopping Center in Winter Haven, but instead built a store on the site of the former Winter Haven Mall after it was torn down. In April 2009, the company which then owned Eagle Ridge Mall filed for

chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

. General Growth Properties, Inc., the mall's owner, owned 358 malls and shopping centers in forty-four states. This at the time was said to be the largest real estate bankruptcy in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

history. It was sold to Madison Marquette, and again in 2013 to Tabani Group. Sears announced closure of the Eagle Ridge Mall store in late 2016. In January 2018, two signal flares were ignited in the mall. The flares caused a large amount of smoke but no injuries were reported. On June 4, 2020,

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

announced that it would be closing by around October 2020 as part of a plan to close 154 stores nationwide. After JCPenney closed, Dillard's became the one and only anchor store left.

References

{{Tampa Bay Area malls Shopping malls established in 1996 Shopping malls in Florida Tourist attractions in Polk County, Florida 1996 establishments in Florida Buildings and structures in Lake Wales, Florida