International Plaza and Bay Street

Shopping mall in Florida, United States

International Plaza and Bay Street

Location| Tampa, Florida, United States
Coordinates| 27°57′52″N 82°31′15″W﻿ / ﻿27.964447°N 82.520748°W﻿ / 27.964447; -82.520748
Address| 2223 N Westshore Blvd
Opening date| September 14, 2001; 23 years ago (2001-09-14)
Developer| Taubman Centers
Owner| Taubman Centers
No. of stores and services| 200
No. of anchor tenants| 3
Total retail floor area| 1,253,000 sq ft (116,400 m2)[1]
No. of floors| 2 (3 in Dillard's)
Parking| Surface lot, 2 parking garages, and valet.
Website| shopinternationalplaza.com

International Plaza and Bay Street is a large, upscale[2] shopping mall and dining destination located adjacent to the Tampa International Airport. Dillard's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Dick's House of Sport all anchor this traditionally enclosed shopping mall.

Bay Street, a more modern open-air shopping center, is anchored by Restoration Hardware, and primarily features restaurants including The Capital Grille, The Cheesecake Factory, and Bar Louie among others.[3] A Renaissance Hotel, with 293 rooms and 12,500 square feet (1,160 m2) of meeting space, connects directly to Bay Street.[4]

## History

[edit]

Plans for International Plaza first began in 1986,[5] begun by real estate developer Dick Corbett first through International Plaza Ltd, and later Concorde Cos., partnering with Taubman Cos. The mall is built on 150 acres of land southeast of Tampa International Airport, part of which was originally an 18-hole Hall of Fame golf course.[5][6] In 1998, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom[7] were publicly announced as anchors followed by Neiman Marcus shortly thereafter.[8] Dillard's was announced as the fourth and final anchor in late 1998.[9] A million square foot office plaza was proposed that same year.[10][6] Sordoni Skanska, the US subsidiary of Skanska, was awarded the contract to construct the mall in 1999.[11]

In early 2001, it was announced that the mall had signed its first 100 tenants, with 65 of them being new to the Tampa area.[12] An 11,000 square foot (1,022 m2) Cheesecake Factory was announced in June 2001.[13] The mall opened to little fanfare on September 14, 2001, due to the September 11 attacks only 3 days prior, however the mall began to succeed despite this.[14] The mall's Lord & Taylor closed in July 2004, with plans already announced to replace it with a Robb & Stucky furniture store which opened in February 2005.[15][16][17] The Renaissance Hotel, attached to Bay Street, opened in August 2004.[18]

Robb & Stucky closed due to bankruptcy in 2011, with upscale fitness gym LifeTime Athletic taking over the store in 2014.[19][20][21] Fashion retailer H&M opened at the mall on November 10, 2011.[22]

On October 11 2024, Dick's House of Sport, which is a concept of Dick's Sporting Goods, opened replacing the Life Time Fitness which closed on June 15.

## See also

[edit]

* WestShore Plaza, a mall located one mile away down Westshore Boulevard
* Hyde Park Village, open-air shopping district in Hyde Park

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "International Plaza". Taubman Centers.
2. ^ "International Plaza and Bay Street". malls.com. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
3. ^ "International Plaza". Taubman Centers.
4. ^ "International PLaza Hotel". Marriott International.
5. ^ a b Clancy, Carole (April 14, 1997). "Airport area mall developer seeks extension". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
6. ^ a b Simanoff, Dave (August 17, 1998). "When will the clock run out?". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
7. ^ "Proposed mall signs two anchor tenants". Tampa Bay Business Journal. March 5, 1998. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
8. ^ "Neiman Marcus to anchor International Plaza". Tampa Bay Business Journal. August 27, 1998. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
9. ^ "Dillard's named as fourth anchor at new Tampa mall". Tampa Bay Business Journal. November 23, 1998. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
10. ^ "Developer plans million-square-foot office park in Tampa". Tampa Bay Business Journal. March 18, 1998. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
11. ^ "Swedish builder picked for International Plaza". Tampa Bay Business Journal. May 17, 1999. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
12. ^ "International Plaza signs first 100 shops". Tampa Bay Business Journal. March 14, 2001. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
13. ^ "Cheesecake Factory fattens International Plaza". Tampa Bay Business Journal. June 22, 2001. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
14. ^ Rigsby, G.G. (November 19, 2001). "International Plaza mall becoming tourist mecca?". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
15. ^ "Lord & Taylor lays off 59 workers". Tampa Bay Business Journal. June 2, 2004. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
16. ^ Writer, Karen-Janine Cohen Business. "LAST LORD & TAYLOR IN S. FLORIDA CLOSING". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved December 14, 2019. `{{cite web}}`: `|first=` has generic name (help)
17. ^ "Robb & Stucky coming to International Plaza". Tampa Bay Business Journal. February 14, 2005. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
18. ^ "Renaissance Tampa opens". Tampa Bay Business Journal. August 11, 2004. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
19. ^ "Life Time Athletic to offer upscale fitness experience". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
20. ^ "Robb & Stucky closing". Furniture Today. March 25, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
21. ^ Manning, Margie (February 21, 2011). "Robb & Stucky files for bankruptcy, puts itself up for sale". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
22. ^ Holan, Mark (October 27, 2011). "H&M opening in Tampa as retail outlook brightens". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Retrieved December 14, 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Shopping malls in the Tampa Bay area

Operating|

* Brandon Exchange
* Centro Ybor
* Citrus Park Town Center
* Crossings at Siesta Key
* Countryside Mall
* Eagle Ridge Mall
* Gulf View Square
* International Plaza and Bay Street
* Largo Mall
* Lakeland Square Mall
* Lakeside Village
* Mall at University Town Center
* The Shops at Wiregrass
* Tampa Premium Outlets
* Tyrone Square Mall
* University Mall
* WestShore Plaza

Defunct|

* Bayonet Point Mall
* Brandon Mall
* Clearwater Mall
* Cortez Plaza
* Crossroads Shopping Center
* DeSoto Square Mall
* East Lake Square Mall
* Floriland Mall
* Gateway Mall
* Gulf Gate Mall
* Lakeland Mall (Lake Parker Mall)
* Main Plaza
* Pinellas Square (Parkside Mall)
* Sarasota Square Mall
* Seminole Mall
* Sunshine Mall
* Tampa Bay Center
* Tarpon Mall
* Winter Haven Mall (Citi Centre Plaza)
* Winter Park Mall

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template