University Mall theaters to close Thursday

[USFishin]

University Mall theaters to close Thursday

By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune

The movie theaters at University Mall will show their last flick on Thursday night.

The theaters are closing down for lack of traffic, and mall operators are hoping to bring in a new movie operator.

That means the closest major movie theater to the University of South Florida will be eight miles away in Ybor City, nine miles away at the Veterans Expressway, or 12 miles away in New Tampa.

The University Mall movie theaters suffered, in part, because they were the last to be built in Tampa Bay without all the amenities that movie fans love â stadium seating among them, said mall general manager Tom Locke.

The theaters are owned by Glimcher Realty Trust, the former owner of the mall property overall, and operated by Regal Cinemas. Glimcher decided to exit the theater business. Now, University Mall operators are negotiating with two other movie companies to potentially come in and renovate the 16-screen cinema, Locke said.

Those companies specialize, Locke said, in taking over and renovating old movie space into more modern cinemas.

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[Paisa el Toro]

The Univ. Mall needs to keep losing anchors. I recall the hang-up with USF purchasing this property has always been Glichmer's refusal to sell the Univ. Mall without packaging it with some other mall they own in Houston, Tx. If the Univ. Mall can't sustain some sort of profitability for Glichmer, they'll have to re-evaluate that stance. USF can always use the extra room for any potential projects whether academic or athletic in nature.

[ajusf16]

The movies on BBDowns are 8 miles away kids can travel that far to see a movie

plus they have movies on the lawn

[Southshore26]

The Univ. Mall needs to keep losing anchors. I recall the hang-up with USF purchasing this property has always been Glichmer's refusal to sell the Univ. Mall without packaging it with some other mall they own in Houston, Tx. If the Univ. Mall can't sustain some sort of profitability for Glichmer, they'll have to re-evaluate that stance. USF can always use the extra room for any potential projects whether academic or athletic in nature.

The other main problem is they don't own all the land.... Sears and JC Penny both own the land their stores sit/sat on... also, Sears owns the plot that the auto facility is on....

[locus000]

None of my friends actually go to that theater for the past 4 years!! All of us go to the Muvico on BBdowns, that area has more food,bar option too

[nobull.Bulls]

muvico in new tampa or ybor.

That theater shut down because it was poorly managed, supervised, etc. Basically no one did a good job at their job there.  Good Riddance.

Now that Dunderbaks is out, what's the over/under on how long until USF bull dozes the place for an OCS?  My money is on 9 years.

[Paisa el Toro]

The other main problem is they don't own all the land.... Sears and JC Penny both own the land their stores sit/sat on... also, Sears owns the plot that the auto facility is on....

That seems to be pretty common with the anchors at most malls. Get rid of the mall, however, and the value of the land where the anchor sits on takes a hit. I think there has to be some behind-the-scenes maneuvering going on with this property. OCS or bust!

[crambone]

The University Mall sucks.  It needs to be bulldozed and QUICKLY.

[EduBull]

The University Mall *****.  It needs to be bulldozed and QUICKLY.

It's been circling the drain for years.  Definitely going the way of Eastlake Mall.  I don't see how USF doesn't end up with it if it wants it.

[WoolyBully]

I thought USF made use of those theaters for some classes? Maybe that was in the pre-construction-boom that the campus currently enjoys. Anyway, it's going to be interesting to see if the theater renovation even occurs. Seems to me that it's generating revenue just to stave off the inevitable as long as possible. It's like the now non-existant car dealerships. Yeah, the cars are gone but that dirt is pretty expensive.