New University Mall owner: Site has 'potential for everything'
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 9, 2015

The New York owners who bought University Mall in late 2014 have donated $30,000 to the group charged with revitalizing the blighted area around their property.

Roger Hirschhorn, senior vice president with RD Management LLC, was in Tampa on Friday to appear at the kick-off luncheon for the Tampa Innovation Alliance, now under the direction of former Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe.

"I think the alliance is an important group to help improve the entire area," Hirschhorn said. "Now that we're part of this area, we want to help shape the future."

RD Management bought the mall in December, as the Tampa Bay Business Journal was first to report. Principal Richard Birdoff told TBBJ at closing that he envisions a mix of uses on the site. A conceptual site plan for the property shows office and student housing on the site as well as a fitness club and warehouse store.

Hirschhorn said the group is still in the planning stages of the redevelopment, but he said there will likely always be a mall component. It's the first enclosed mall RD Management has acquired in recent years, and while it's converted the others into open-air centers, Hirschhorn doesn't see that happening here.

He said retail, hospitality, restaurant and educational components as well as office space could be in the plan.

"I think there's potential for everything. It's a large property and I think there's a lot to be done with it to rebrand it," he said.

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.