Siesta Key named third best U.S. beach by TripAdvisor

Anna Maria Island may be the third best island in the U.S.
but its beaches don't rank on TripAdvisor.
File photo by Grant Jefferies

Florida might have as many beaches as Hawaii in TripAdvisor's latest Top 25 U.S. Beaches, but none are in Manatee County.

Siesta Key ranked third, the highest in Florida, and Lido Beach, also in Sarasota County ranked 22nd, according to the 2014 list released Tuesday. Lanikai Beach in Oahu, Hawaii was the top beach.

“We are thrilled to share this news,” said Erin Duggan, Director of Brand for Visit Sarasota County.  “We are honored so many visitors to our shores love their experience here and are willing to share it with others.”

TripAdvisor survey of 13,000 U.S. travelers found that 81 percent plan to take a beach vacation in 2014, compared to 69 percent that did in 2013. Summer is the most popular season for beach vacations with the most popular months being: July (23%), August (20%), June (19%).

“For those fed up with the long cold winter, there’s really no better cure than an escape to one of these award-winning beaches,” said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor. “Even if you can’t go to one of these stunning beaches soon, just looking at the photos will take you away for a moment, until you can plan a trip.”

Siesta Key dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 from last year's beach rankings. Other area beaches that made the list include Saint Pete Beach at No. 9, Caladesi Island State Park in Dunedin at No. 11 and Clearwater Beach at No. 21.

What's strange is how Anna Maria Island can rank third among U.S. islands, but none of its beaches rank at all in the Top 25. What gives? Was it the dredging equipment? Surely surveyors can come back and see there's enough sand on the beach now.
Here is the complete list

Travelers’ Choice Top 25 Beaches in the U.S.

1.       Lanikai Beach, Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii

2.       Ka'anapali Beach, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii

3.       Siesta Key Public Beach, Siesta Key, Florida

4.       Hanalei Beach, Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii

5.       Wai'anapanapa State Park, Hana, Maui, Hawaii

6.       Wailea Beach, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

7.       Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort, South Carolina

8.       Manini'owali Beach (Kua Bay), Kailua-Kona, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii

9.       Saint Pete Beach, Saint Pete Beach, Florida

10.   Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

11.   Caladesi Island State Park, Dunedin, Florida

12.   Poipu Beach Park, Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii

13.   Ko Olina Lagoons, Kapolei, Hawaii

14.   St. Augustine Beach, Saint Augustine Beach, Florida

15.   Ogunquit Beach, Ogunquit, Maine

16.   Race Point Beach, Provincetown, Massachusetts

17.   Bahia Honda State Park and Beach, Big Pine Key, Florida

18.   La Jolla Cove, La Jolla, California

19.   Pensacola Beach, Pensacola, Florida

20.   Beach at Panama City, Panama City Beach, Florida

21.   Clearwater Beach, Clearwater, Florida

22.   Lido Beach, Sarasota, Florida

23.   Assateague Beach, Assateague Island, Virginia

24.   Kapalua Beach, Kapalua, Hawaii

25.   Navarre Beach, Navarre, Florida

Fun with fake stores at new Mall at University Town Center

Mall at University Town Center's developer Taubman Centers is in the teasing business in their video renderings of the new mall.

Of course, the video animation folks had to be inventive so as not tospill all the secrets of what's coming. You will see Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard's and Macy's in their appropriate places as the videos soars underneath the glass archway ceilings.

The video was released via Taubman on YouTube in May 2013, but somehow was buried among other renderings released by animation company Max Wave Media that featured a fly-over of the mall and Nathan Benderson Park last summer. Another rendering video previously released also showed something mighty close to a Bass Pro Shop, but that is more likely to be built on one of the Benderson-developed parcels east of the mall next to Interstate 75.

We only know of a few confirmed stores now including American Eagle Outfitters, Brooks Brothers, Oil & Vinegar and Smoothie King in addition to restaurants BRIO Tuscan Grille, Capital Grille, Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill and Seasons 52.

Sure, it's likely that the Apple Store is coming, too, but we're not 100 percent on that yet.

In the meantime, check out the fake names of stores the animators decided to put in the video to give a flavor of the type of mall to open Oct. 16. You might recognize a funny knock-off name if you shopped on a sidewalk stand in New York or Miami.

I'll write down what my best guess for the actual retailers in parenthesis

Aux Bon Gourmet (Au Bon Pain though it would make sense for a Corner Bakery Cafe)
Design Studio
Mocha Cafe (Starbucks located underneath escalators)
Channel (Chanel)
Asagio
ALBO (ALDO)
Gantier (likely a perfume store)
The Bar
CASAbalance
Cap (Gap)
Porteous
Cartier
Fashion Street (Font looks like a Charlotte Ruse)
NHN
Guchi (Gucci)
Maxim
Figment
JJ Jewelers
Islands
Omar Viducci (Gianni Versace)

Colleagues in the newsroom remarked how much the mall looked like International Plaza, another Taubman-owned mall. To me, the cafe and table area by the glass elevators resembles Countryside Mall in Clearwater, without the ice rink, and feels a bit like the Mall in Columbia (Md.) that features similar stores on two levels. That mall is managed by the Howard Hughes Corp. and General Growth Properties.

It might be easier to watch the video and pair the names with the fonts on the signs if you're trying to guess what's coming. Keep in mind there are supposed to be more than 100 stores and half of them new to the Sarasota-Bradenton market. Many of the animated storefronts lacked names and some were duplicated.

What's your best guess to the stores inside the Mall at UTC? Share your guesses below.

Your Top Mall at UTC Suggestions

An aerial photo of the construction site for the Mall at University Town Center, a centerpiece to the shopping, sports and restaurant mecca on the county line for Manatee and Sarasota. 

Credit: Troy Morgan and PhotosFromTheAir.com/Special to the Herald

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2013/05/12/4522175/mall-rowing-venue-continue-momentum.html#storylink=cpy

Thanks to everyone who responded to my column on Sunday asking what you want to see come to the Mall at University Town Center!

I sifted through all the comments posted on the blog, tweets, phone calls and emails, and I organized all of them so you can see better what had the most votes. If someone said they agreed with having a certain store, it counted as a vote. If they objected to an idea, I noted it.

We have more than 120 suggestions from people, which could easily fill the mall. Way to go, Bradenton Herald readers!

Here's an update from Karen MacDonald, spokeswoman for Taubman, the leasing company for the mall:

"A lot of great names!  I will be sharing this information with our leasing team.  Stay tuned...good things come to those who wait!  We appreciate the time your readers took to share their thoughts."

Here we go:

TOP VOTES

• Cheesecake Factory 10 
• Apple 6 

FOUR VOTES

• Nordstrom 4 
• DSW 4 
• Sephora 4 

THREE VOTES

• Bar Louie 3 
• Charming Charlies 3 
• Container Store 3 
• Crate & Barrel 3 
• Hollister 3 

TWO VOTES

• Banana Republic 2 
• Barnes & Noble 2 
• Bass Pro 2 
• Christopher & Banks 2 
• Gilly Hicks 2 
• H&M 2 
• IMAX movie theater 2 
• Lucky Brand Jeans 2 
• Lord & Taylor 2 
• Mimi’s Café 2 
• Pottery Barn 2 
• Red Robin 2 
• Water Theme Park (lazy river in the mall) 2 (two objections, too)
• West Elm 2 
• White House Black Market 2 
• Williams-Sonoma 2

THE REST

1. Abercrombie & Fitch 
2. Alternative Outfitters 
3. American Apparel 
4. American Eagle 
5. Anthropologie 
6. BCBG-Maxazria 
7. The Body Shop 
8. Bose 
9. Brighton 
10. Brooklyn Industries 
11. Buddy’s Pizza 
12. Burberry 
13. California Pizza 2 
14. Cabela’s 
15. Capital Grille 
16. Cheddars 
17. Clarks 
18. Coldwater Creek 
19. CPK 
20. Delia’s 
21. Diesel 
22. Extreme Play 
23. Fossil
24. Gap 
25. Golden Corral
26. Grand Lux 
27. Houlihan’s 
28. Ikea 
29. Intelligentsia 
30. I.O. Metro 
31. J Crew 
32. Johnny Rockets 
33. Johnston & Murphy 
34. Jos. A Bank 
35. Kipling 
36. Little Miss Matched 
37. Louis Vuitton 
38. Maggiano’s Little Italy 
39. Men’s Warehouse 
40. Mellow Mushroom 
41. Michael Kors 
42. Microsoft 
43. Native Foods Cafe 
44. Neiman Marcus 
45. Nine West 
46. Oakley 
47. Origins 
48. Panda Express 
49. Pink Berry 
50. PGA Tour Superstore 
51. Peete’s Coffee 
52. PF Chang 
53. Portillo’s 
54. Quicksilver 
55. Swatch 
56. Soft Surroundings 
57. Sur La Table 
58. Texas de Brazil 
59. Tommy Bahama 
60. Top Shop 
61. True Religion Jeans 
62. Uniqlo 
63. Urban Outfitters 
64. Veggie Grill 
65. Vera Bradley  
66. White Castle 
67. Who.A.U (Stands for “Who Are You” 
68. Wildfire Café 
69. World Market 
70. Yankee Candle 
71. Zaxby’s 
72. Z-Gallery

General Suggestions

• Jewish-style Deli 
• Neon bowling alley (i.e. Lucky Strike) 
• Roller skating rink 
• Nightlife area like Downtown Disney/CityWalk (One objection to a Downtown) 

Suggestions needed for Mall at University Town Center stores

Officials and developers break ground for the University Town Center Mall development in October 2012. The upscale mall will be located in Sarasota at the southwest corner of University Parkway and I-75. PAUL VIDELA/Bradenton Herald PVIDELA@BRADENTON.COM

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/10/15/4239984/university-town-center-mall-groundbreaking.html#storylink=cpy

UNIVERSITY PARK--Talking with folks in the community about the Mall at University Town Center, there’s always excitement, and a line that goes something like this:
“I can’t wait. I really wish they would bring [insert store or restaurant name here].”
Today is your lucky day because a Taubman Centers official says she is listening.
Part of Karen MacDonald’s job as director of communications at Taubman is to track what people are saying and writing online about what stores they want to see at the Mall, set to open Oct. 16, 2014 at University Parkway and Cattleman Road, near Interstate 75.
MacDonald told the Herald that leasing agents, development people and the research team visited the area to try to get a sense of what’s here already, what works, and most importantly, the restaurants people want and the shops where they want to spend their money. Mall builders, it seems, take to heart what people write online about stores they want to see where they live.
“Oh yeah, we look at that stuff,” MacDonald said.
The mall has plenty of space to fill with 115 tenants plus an additional anchor to be named, so suggestions are welcomed. So far, Macy’s, Dillard’s, Saks Fifth Avenue are the only confirmed tenants.
The suggestions don’t necessarily have to be national chains, either.
“We always try to have some local flavor to our shopping centers as well with a handful of local retailers and food specialty stores,” MacDonald said.
Some of that research involves nearby retailers that provide data about where shoppers travel from, she added.
Sarasota area residents were recently excited about reports that an Apple store would open at the Westfield Southgate Mall when the shopping center expanded in 2011, only to feel spurned when it didn’t happen. Is that something shoppers here still want? Maybe a Google store instead, or in addition?
This mall might have had a similar moment with Bass Pro Shops, after the store apparently printed in a catalog last year that it would be coming to Sarasota, leading many in the community to speculate the store would be coming to UTC. Bass Pro told WWSB, who first reported the printing mishap, that they had nothing to announce at that time.
The first round of tenants will be announced in October, about a year before the mall opens, MacDonald said.
Now is your chance to make an impact on your local mall.
Sign in and post your suggestions to this blog below. I’ll pass them along to MacDonald so she knows that Manatee County shoppers will put their money where their mouth is.
Charles Schelle, business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow him on Twitter @ImYourChuck.