Lake Square Mall (briefly known as ViaPort Florida) is an 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 ...

Leesburg, Florida Leesburg is a city in central Florida. The population was 20,117 at the 2010 census. As of 2019, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 23,671. Leesburg is in Lake County, between Lake Harris and Lake Griffin, at the head of the ...

, United States. Opened on September 24, 1980, it is managed by Exclusive Management and Properties. The mall's

anchor store In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wit ...

s are

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, ...

and an entertainment center named Via Entertainment.

History

The mall was built in 1980 by

General Growth Properties GGP Inc. (an initialism of General Growth Properties) was an American commercial real estate company and the second-largest shopping mall operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers Martin, Matthew and Maurice Bucksbaum in Ceda ...

, with

Lindsey, J. C. Penney, and

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 ...

as the anchor stores. An expansion comprising

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

was first proposed in 1989, as part of an expansion that added ten new storefronts. Target opened in March 1992. In 1995, the movie theater complex, owned by

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

, expanded from six screens to twelve. Also, Belk expanded its store into an adjacent storefront previously occupied by

Rite Aid Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. The company ranked No. 148 in the Fortune 500 l ...

. A year later, the J. C. Penney store was remodeled, and a stage was removed from center court.

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...

and

Macerich Macerich ( ) is a real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. It is the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 52 properties comprisi ...

bought the mall in 1997, just after Books-A-Million was added.

PetSmart PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...

was added in 2011. The closure of the Target store was announced in November 2013. That same month, Macerich put the mall up for auction, and by March 2014, sold it to

Kohan Retail Investment Group Kohan Retail Investment Group is a shopping mall investment company based in Great Neck, New York. They primarily purchase endangered/troubled shopping malls. History Kohan bought Northland Mall from Developers Diversified Realty for $1.8 mill ...

. Target ended up closing on February 1, 2014. In January 2014, it was announced that JCPenney would be closing its store by May 2014, and would officially close on May 3, 2014. On September 3, 2014, Kohan sold the mall at an undisclosed amount to Via Properties of Istanbul, Turkey, who renovated the mall into ViaPort Florida. In 2017, ViaPort Florida was purchased by Exclusive Management and Properties, Inc. The new owners changed the name back to Lake Square Mall, and they announced their plans to cut down the vacancy rate and renovate the mall's facade. On August 31, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location a part of a plan to close 92 stores nationwide. The store closed in mid-December 2019.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Shopping malls established in 1980 Shopping malls in Florida Buildings and structures in Lake County, Florida Leesburg, Florida