Eagle Ridge Mall

Eagle Ridge Mall is a regional, enclosed shopping mall located on the north side of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It has two anchor stores: JCPenney and Dillard's. It also has a Regal Cinemas, which has twelve theatres, and 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 relocated from the Winter Haven Mall, in nearby Winter Haven.[2]

Eagle Ridge Mall
LocationLake Wales, Florida, United States
Coordinates27.9540°N 81.6157°W / 27.9540; -81.6157
Opening date1996
DeveloperGeneral Growth Properties
OwnerTabani
No. of stores and services89
No. of anchor tenants3 (1 open, 2 vacant by around October 2020)
Total retail floor area624,579 sq ft (58,025.3 m2)[1]
No. of floors1
Websiteeagleridgemall.com

History

In June 1998, a large sinkhole appeared in the children's play area, in the central pedestrian traffic corridor of the mall. This hole measured 80 feet (24 m) across and 14 feet (4.3 m) 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 in October 1999 contained a study detailing how these sinkholes were fixed.[3][4]

In 2000, Belk 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.[5]

In April 2009, the company which then owned Eagle Ridge Mall filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. 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 history.[6] It was sold to Madison Marquette, and again in 2013 to Tabani Group.[7] Sears announced closure of the Eagle Ridge Mall store in late 2016.[8]

In January 2018, two signal flares were ignited in the mall. The flares caused a large amount of smoke but no injuries were reported.[9]

On June 4, 2020, JCPenney announced that it would be closing by around October 2020 as part of a plan to close 154 stores nationwide.[10] After JCPenney closes, Dillard's will be the one and only anchor store left.

References
  1. "Flyer -- Tabini Group" (PDF). Tabinigroup. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  2. "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  3. "Hole Still Open, Stores Closed". tribunedigital-orlandosentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  4. Zhang, Ziji; Cai, Junmei (1999). "Compromise Orifice Geometry to Minimize Pressure Drop". Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. 125 (11): 1150–1153. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(1999)125:11(1150).
  5. "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  6. "Owner of Lakeland, Lake Wales Malls Files For Bankruptcy". TheLedger.com. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  7. "S4_LakeWales". postnewsads.com. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  8. "Sears and Kmart are closing more stores — see if your store is on the list". 2016-12-28. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  9. Madison Park; Joe Sutton. "2 IEDs explode at Florida mall, police say". CNN. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  10. https://companyblog.jcpnewsroom.com/storeclosings/
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