Tampa Bay Center was a

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 in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, across the street from

Tampa Stadium Tampa Stadium (nicknamed The Big Sombrero and briefly known as Houlihan's Stadium) was a large open-air stadium (maximum capacity about 74,000) located in Tampa, Florida, which opened in 1967 and was significantly expanded in 1974–75. The faci ...

. The mall was developed by

The Rouse Company The Rouse Company, founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. Beginnings - Moss-Rouse Company ...

. When it opened on August 5, 1976 the Tampa Bay Center was Tampa's fourth major mall and operated until 2001, when most of its tenants relocated to the nearby International Plaza. The mall was a two-story building that had an anchor at each end, plus one in the center of the mall:

Burdines Burdines (} ) was an American chain of department stores operating in the state of Florida, headquartered in Miami. The original store opened in Bartow, Florida in 1896 as a carriage-trade shop. Over its nearly 110-year history, Burdines grew ...

on the east side,

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

in the center, 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 ...

on the west side.

Appearance

Tampa Bay Center's main corridor was splashed in sunlight, a large portion of the roof was actually constructed with skylights; a bright and sunny day outdoors meant a bright and sunny day indoors. This was considered to be an inviting feature at a time when many malls were being built with dropped ceilings and finished with darker colors. The mall featured exposed, light-colored truss ceilings over the main corridor, tan-brown floor

tiles Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

, floor-based

water fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...

s, and trees intermittently planted on the bottom floor of the main corridor, growing upwards toward the skylights. The open-and-airy interior was further augmented by what was thought to be one of the mall's most important trademarks, a glass

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

located in the center of the mall. The North Side parking lot had an unusual-for-flat-central-Florida slope to it that meant that the mall entrance on that side of the building was on the second floor, leading directly into the food court, which opened in 1987. In the 1990s, the mall's center court featured a 1922

Herschell-Spillman The Allan Herschell Company specialized in the creation of amusement rides, particularly carousels and roller coasters. The company manufactured portable machines that could be used by traveling carnival operators. It was started in 1915 in the ...

carousel with carved wooden horses, with the oldest horse carved in 1880. Discovered in a West Tampa warehouse by Lynne Beckett and Tommy Sciortino, the couple invested $100,000 into its restoration. The carousel's

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

band organ was replaced with taped music, and its canvas top was removed so shoppers upstairs could see in.

Cinema

The mall featured a

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

with two screens from the beginning until it closed on February 28, 1990. The final movies shown were

Roger & Me ''Roger & Me'' is a 1989 American documentary film written, produced, directed by, and starring Michael Moore, in his directorial debut. Moore portrays the regional economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith's action of closing several a ...

and Stella. Throughout its history, it was operated by the

General Cinema Corporation General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theatres, was a chain of movie theaters in the United States. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens, some of which were among the first cinemas certif ...

Montgomery Ward

Due to the success of the mall, a third anchor,

, was proposed in November 1977; the third anchor pad on the south side of the facility had been planned since the center's opening. It opened in October 1980.

Decline and closure

In 1994 the mall's management was accused of racism for closing early during the

Florida Classic The Florida Classic is the annual college football rivalry game between Bethune–Cookman University and Florida A&M University. The game has been televised nationally by ESPN Classic as a part of a multi-year contract with the Mid-East ...

college football game between FAMU and Bethune Cookman, both

historically black universities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

. Then Montgomery Ward was closed in 1999, and the Burdines followed soon afterwards, moving to the new Citrus Park Town Center mall northwest of Tampa. Tampa Bay Center hung on with only Sears, but then International Plaza opened nearby in 2001. International Plaza had lured Dillard's away from

WestShore Plaza WestShore Plaza is one of two enclosed shopping malls located in the Westshore business district of Tampa, Florida, developed by Albert L. Manley of Boston, MA. WestShore Plaza was opened in 1967 and was touted as Tampa's first shopping center ...

, and in early 2002, Sears moved into the old Dillard's location. Tampa Bay Center closed entirely after that. Sears announced on December 28, 2018 that the Westshore Plaza store would be among 80 stores to shutter nationwide in March 2019.

New owner and demolition

The mall was acquired by

Malcolm Glazer Malcolm Irving Glazer (August 15, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American businessman and sports team owner. He was the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests, ...

and his family for $22.8 million in cash on December 31, 2002, to make way for a training facility for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was demolished in 2005. The only remnants of the mall are the large sections of parking lots. The

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (also known as the Hillsborough Transit Authority (HART)) provides public transportation for Hillsborough County, Florida. The agency provides fixed-route local and express bus service, door-to-door paratransit ...

bus terminal was relocated to the southwest section of the property in 2007, known as the West Tampa Transfer Center. The transfer center portion is still owned by agency, but was largely rendered inoperable as of 2017 due to a system-wide network reorganization known as ''Mission MAX''.

References

{{coord, 27.9790, -82.4984, display=title Demolished shopping malls in the United States Shopping malls established in 1976 2001 disestablishments in Florida Buildings and structures in Tampa, Florida History of Tampa, Florida Shopping malls in Florida 1976 establishments in Florida Buildings and structures demolished in 2005 Demolished buildings and structures in Florida