Mall at University Town Center app launches

Screenshot of Mall at UTC app

The Mall at University Town Center now has a smartphone app that will serve as a pilot for Taubman Centers properties nationwide.

Taubman announced Tuesday the free app available for Apple iOS devices while an Android version will launch soon. Users can search for "Mall at UTC" in the app store.

Technology company MXM created the app using real-time mall-based navigation features using Bluetooth beacons from another technology company called SPREO.

These Bluetooth beacons are able to sense where a shopper is in the mall and send special offers and deals when they are near certain stores. That feature won't immediately be available but could in the future, officials said.

“Our new mobile app changes the shopping experience, bringing mall navigation and personalization to the forefront like never before,” said Ivan Frank, director of digital marketing for Taubman in a news release. “Taubman is pleased to be the leader in bringing this technology to shoppers to enhance their in-mall experience.”

SPREO Co-Founder and CEO Avi Sacajiu said, “Through our work with Taubman, we are leading the way in using radio frequency signals for precise navigation in large, multi-level spaces like The Mall at University Town Center. This is truly a unique amenity for shoppers.”

Check out the full story on Bradenton.com. Download the Mall at UTC app here in the App Store.

Here's what Taubman officials say users can do with the new app:

Map It:
Easily locate stores, restaurants and entertainment as you shop.
- With Bluetooth on, the “Map It” screen recognizes your location within seconds;
- Click to view the location of any store – and then click again for directions to that store from your current location;
- Navigation directions then appear, helping you navigate step by step and floor by floor to your destination.
Plan It:
Plan your shopping trip in advance, to get the most out of your visit.
- Add stores to your “Plan It” trip itinerary to make shopping a breeze. You can add stores to your itinerary any time by clicking on the “Plan It” icon.
Love It:
Save your favorite stores for quick information and a personalized experience.
- When you first install the app, you will be asked to mark your favorites;
- The app offers recommendations, including a personal “inspiration board” driven by your “Love It” favorites and their related stores;
- And you can customize your map simply by pressing the “Love It” filter so that only your “Love It” stores appear.

Here are other screenshots of the UTC app to give users an idea of what it can do:

Taubman's technology allows Mall at UTC to be a 'smart mall'

Macy's at the Mall at University Town Center

When Taubman Centers opens the Mall at University Town Center, technology will be at the forefront of the shopping and business experience.

The company's chief technology officer Michael Osment shared in a column for research company Realcomm Conference Group that the Mall at UTC will be one of the company's "smart malls."

Shoppers will have touchscreen directories in the mall that give GPS-like directions on how to get to a store from your current location in the mall, Osment wrote:

"The value of this approach has already been demonstrated as we prepare to open the new Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota, Fla. A big advantage is the ability to postpone technology decisions until late in the development cycle. This allowed time to make a firm decision for the digital directory approach until the technology matured; we will be able to incorporate state of the art touchscreen directories with built in way-finding for shoppers rather than settling for what was available when the development began almost three years ago. Think of this as being like your GPS: you put in your destination and it shows you the route from your location on a map. Having the Smart Mall infrastructure already in the plans made postponement of the technology decision possible without adding risk to the overall project."

The mall, which opens Oct. 16, will also provide free basic Internet for tenants, free WiFi for customers and Taubman officials previously announced that they were working on a way for customers to call ahead or maybe even use an app to have their valet car ready before customers head to the exit.

Osment also added that Taubman is testing more ways to use location-based technology along with low energy Bluetooth, or Bluetooth LE and Bluetooth Smart, to add to the shopping experience.

Computer manufacturer Dell wrote about what Bluetooth LE could mean for retail in a post earlier this year, saying that the technology could alert shoppers of a sale on umbrellas if it's raining outside, or pull up your order or request as soon as you approach the store. Companies like American Eagle Outfitters and Macy's -- both which will be in the new mall -- are rolling out Bluetooth Smart beacons in stores, Dell's Nick Clunn added.

Whether shoppers will use and trust the technology and security remains to be seen.

Wall Street Journal takes notice of Mall at University Town Center

The Mall at University Town Center
Courtesy of Manatee County Government Information Outreach

The Wall Street Journal is starting to take notice of the impending opening of the  Mall at University Town Center.

That national media outlets would swoop in to do big pieces on the mall's role in America and using the Mall at UTC for a prop for a story, was bound to happen, even though the local construction doesn't represent a national mall rebound trend.

Robbie Whelan from the WSJ on the mall madness and where Taubman plays into all of this:

That was a common event from the 1980s through the early 2000s when mall construction boomed. But new mall development has slowed to a trickle in recent years, falling from more than 25 million square feet of gross leasable space added in 2001 to less than four million each year starting in 2010, according to Green Street Advisors. Only eight new malls have been built in the U.S. since 2008, Green Street says.

Taubman, a real-estate investment trust based in Michigan, has been an exception to the rule. The company currently has three domestic projects under way in Sarasota, Hawaii and Puerto Rico — with a combined cost of $905 million to the company — as well as two malls planned for China and one for South Korea, with a combined cost of $560 million.

Taubman is building because it believes its projects are located in markets that are underserved by retail, and because of the mall owner's track record of attracting high-quality tenants. Sarasota, for example, will "fill the void between Tampa and Naples" for upscale, destination retail, the company said. The mall's retail space was 90% committed months before the opening, Taubman said.

I visited the topic of malls in the national spotlight in a column in March when CBS "Sunday Morning" talked about how no new indoor malls have been built since 2006, but they overlooked both the Mall at UTC and Taubman's Salt Lake City Creek Center that opened in 2012, which was partially indoors. Basically, outlets kept repeating a line about mall construction from a 2009 WSJ article and never bothered to check to see if it was still true years later that no new malls opened or were under construction since 2006.

As Whelan notes above, Green Street Advisors say eight new malls have been built since 2008, but I can't verify the specificity of that item. That probably includes outdoor malls/outlets as well. The International Council of Shopping Centers provided data on indoor mall openings to me in March citing only one in Arkansas and Salt Lake City as indoor malls that opened since 2006.

The WSJ story also revisits Taubman's deal of it selling off seven malls.

Taubman banking big on Mall at UTC after selling 7 malls

Taubman Centers, the operator of the Mall at University Town Center, is betting on some big business for its Sarasota County mall to help offset income lost after it unloaded seven malls to Starwood Capital Group.

Taubman, based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., announced Wednesday a $1.4 billion deal to sell seven malls to Starwood, targeted for a fourth quarter 2014 closing.

The malls are:

• MacArthur Center (Norfolk, Va.) 
• Stony Point Fashion Park (Richmond, Va.) 
• Northlake Mall (Charlotte, N.C.) 
• The Mall at Wellington Green (Wellington, Fla.) 
• The Shops at Willow Bend (Plano, Tex.) 
• The Mall at Partridge Creek (Clinton Township, Mich.) 
• Fairlane Town Center (Dearborn, Mich.) 

In an investors relations presentation, Taubman showed that the company figures that the three properties coming online in the next two years -- Mall at University Town Center in University Park, Mall of San Juan and International Market Place in Waikiki -- will "nearly replace" the net operating income loss from all seven of the sold malls.

Taubman/Starwood Capital Group Transaction Presentation from TaubmanCenters

Taubman's presentation went on to show that after the sale, all of its properties will be in areas with larger tenant sales per square foot, higher rents, better educated, wealthier and in more densely populated areas.

One of the largest demographic jumps Taubman will see with its new portfoliois a 17.4 percent increase in average households earning $200,000 and up within a 30-minute drive. That increase goes from 51,440 before the sale and 60,386 after the sale.

That should be no surprise to close watchers of this mall which is attracting high-end tenants and fashion anchors like Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue,  Apple and boutiques Michael Kors, Omega and Calypso St. Barth.

Taubman reported that its portfolio will be stronger for having 80 percent of its department stores as high-demand fashion anchors as opposed to 67 percent before. Taubman includes Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue in that category, representing 35 of its 44 department stores at its properties. Dillard's, which is coming to the Mall at UTC, would not fall into that category.

The Mall at UTC, which is a 50-50 partnership with Benderson Development Co., is expected to open Oct. 16.

Mall at UTC developer making news in Vegas

LAS VEGAS--The developer of the Mall at University Town Center received accolades Sunday for its unique mall in Salt Lake City.

The International Council of Shopping Centers announced that City Creek Center received the ICSC VIVA (Vision, Innovation, Value, Achievement) Best-of-the-Best Award winner in the Sustainable Design/Development category for 2014. The developer of the mall, Taubman Centers of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is also developing the Mall at UTC in University Park, expected to open Oct. 16.

Recognition for the project was given to: City Creek Reserve, Development Company; The Taubman Center, Owner; Callison, Design Architect; and Hobbs & Black Associates, Inc, Production/ Executive Architect.

The winners were announced during the VIVA Best-of-the-Best Awards ceremony during RECon, ICSC’s global retail real estate convention in Las Vegas. The VIVA Best-of-the-Best Awards honor and recognize the most outstanding examples of shopping center design and development, sustainability, marketing, and community service worldwide.

The two-story mall, which opened in 2012, features a retractable roof plus 500 condos/apartments and four levels of underground parking in a downtown setting and was developed in partnership with the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints.

“City Creek is an outstanding example of visionary architectural achievement in sustainability and innovative design,” said Michael P. Kercheval, president and CEO, ICSC. “As the industry continues its positive momentum, we will begin to see further developments in the U.S., and City Creek has set the bar for what that development will look like,” said Kercheval.

The City Creek marked the first indoor mall (kind of) to open in the U.S. since 2006 and Taubman will open the first truly indoor mall this year with Mall at UTC since 2006 as well when the Mall at Turtle Creek opened in Arkansas.

It will be worth watching to see if Taubman's Mall at UTC could win the company another award next year. The Mall at UTC's ceiling is essentially a spine featuring louvered glass and blue/purple lights that will shine into the sky while a glass elevator and open feel will give the University Park mall a cosmopolitan feel.

City Creek is a LEED certified center with streetscapes, public areas and green space, which the Mall at UTC is striving to do with its design.

Crate & Barrel will stack store inside Mall at UTC

This Crate & Barrel in Annapolis, Md., is built into a Westfield
mall, but the Sarasota location will be entirely inside the Mall
at University Town Center on two levels. Photo Provided

When Crate & Barrel opens inside the Mall at University Town Center, its presence will be noticeable but not as much as some of the chain's other mall locations.

The upscale furniture store's building plans shows that the store will consume two levels of the mall. Plans also call for an elevator, escalator and stairs within the 25,800-square-foot store. Total construction cost is listed as $1.3 million, according to the application.

While the mall's mini-anchor will take out a sizable chunk of the mall, the design will  be on the smaller end of the Chicago retailer's full-line stores.

The Mall at UTC location will not have its own exterior entrance and will be fully contained within the mall, according to documents filed with Sarasota County. Having the store self-contained shaves the space down about 3,000 to 10,000 square feet off a full-line store.

The Tampa location at International Plaza features 35,000 square feet on two levels with a separate entrance when opened in 2009 while another two-level Crate & Barrel with its own entrance at Westfield Annapolis in Maryland is about 28,000 square feet. These types of Crate & Barrel stores are considered the "home store" version, offering a full line of furniture and accessories.

The mall's mock-up plans showed that the only retailers with their own entrances would the be the six  main restaurants plus the department stores--Dillard's, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Still, the Crate & Barrel represents a few surprises in the design the mall is incorporating. After subtracting the department stores, the mall has 460,000 square feet of space to lease. As leasing is confirmed and added, the square footage totals are confirmed and allows mall management to shift spaces and locations, which is one reason why you're not hearing an exact number of stores coming to the mall, mall general manager Octavio Ortiz said during previous presentations. That number ought to be well nailed down by now because the mall is more than 90-percent leased.

This game of leasing Tetris will be in turbo mode 90 to 120 days out from opening when most smaller stores are ready to build. So come mid June, it'll be a race to Oct. 16.

He also said during a Manatee Association of Realtors meeting on March that "some" of the stores will be on two levels, hinting that Crate & Barrel might not be the only one to take up both floors, aside from the department stores.

It doesn't sound like there would be a food court, per se, but permits for fast-food joints are popping up for the mall including Mandarin Express and Cold Stone Creamery. Smoothie King representatives said early on they would commit to the mall and an area below an escalator shows a space perfect for a Starbucks kiosk.

The biggest flexibility Taubman and Benderson have is for expansion. A fourth anchor store, which likely could be Nordstrom, could be built adjacent to Saks Fifth Avenue, said the mall's general manager, Octavio Ortiz, during a luncheon in March.

Still, I don't think there's room for a water park as one reader suggested.

Flurry of activity at Mall at University Town Center

The Mall at University Town Center is six months away
from opening . CHARLES SCHELLE/Bradenton Herald

The Mall at University Town Center is six months, four days away from opening, and in the past month building permit applications and commitments seem to happen on a daily occurrence.

At this point, I know it's hard to keep up with all the stores that are starting to build and those that have been officially announced.

To help, here is a round-up of stores and restaurants that are coming to the Mall at University Town Center so far. This list will be updated.

Updated May 30

Stores

• American Eagle Outfitters
• Ann Taylor
• Anthropologie
• Apple Store
• The Art of Shaving
• Bebe
• Boston Proper
• Brighton
• Calypso St. Barth
• Champs Sports
• Crate & Barrel
• Dillard's
• Edward Benier
• Everything But Water
• Express
• FootLocker
• Forever 21
• Gap
• Gymboree
• H&M
• J. Crew
• J.Jill
• Journeys
• Kay Jewelers
• LensCrafters
• Lilly Pulitzer
• LOFT by Ann Taylor
• Lululemon Athletica
• Macy's
• Michael Kors
• Oil & Vinegar
• Omega
• Organic Nail Bar
• Pottery Barn
• Saks Fifth Avenue
• Sephora
• Solstice Sunglasses
• Soma
• Swarovski
• Teavana
• Things Remembered
• Tommy Bahama
• Tumi
• Vera Bradley
• Victoria's Secret
• Williams-Sonoma
• The Walking Company
• Yankee Candle
• Z Gallerie
• Zales Jewelers

Restaurants/Food

• BRIO Tuscan Grille
• The Capital Grille
• The Cheesecake Factory
• Cold Stone Creamery
• Godiva
• Kona Grill
• Mandarin Express
• Seasons 52
• Smoothie King
• Sophie's (inside Saks Fifth Avenue)
• Starbucks
• Zinburger Wine & Burger Bar

Remember that the 880,000-square-foot mall is expected to open Oct. 16, with an exclusive preview night Oct. 15. It will feature 100 stores, half of them expected to be new to the Sarasota-Bradenton market. So we're about a quarter of the way through with the list of stores that are confirmed. Some of the store lease signings and commitments could come in the final 90 days before the mall opens.

When open at Cattlemen Road and University Parkway, the Mall at UTC will be the first truly enclosed mall opened in America since 2006. (Sorry, Salt Lake City and your retractable roof mall. You don't count.)

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.

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.