RITHM, former University Mall, signs natural grocer and discount retailer
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 28, 2021

RITHM at Uptown — the property formerly known as University Mall near the University of South Florida — has signed deals with a specialty grocer and off-price retailer.

RD Management, the New York-based owner of RITHM, on Thursday said it has signed leases with Sprouts Farmers Market and Burlington, both of which are growing their footprints throughout the Tampa Bay region.

Sprouts (Nasdaq: SFM) has signed a lease for 23,218 square feet; the new Burlington will be 49,912 square feet. Both retailers are slated to open in late 2022 or early 2023.

The developer did not disclose where on the property the two retailers would be located. RD Management executives have touted RITHM — which stands for Research, Innovation, Technology, Habitat and Medicine — as an urban, life sciences focused-village that will be more than 7 million square feet at completion.

The development has nearly $100 million in new development and infrastructure projects under construction, according to RD.

“Today isn’t just about welcoming a great green grocery and a highly successful, value-based, department store to RITHM at Uptown — it’s about celebrating the fact that a lot of great things are continuing to happen here in Uptown," Christopher M. Bowen, chief development strategist at RD Management, said in a statement.

RD Management acquired the former University Mall in 2014. In the years since, the developer had been working on a master plan for the property as well as on buying out Sears and Dillard's, which owned their respective anchor boxes at the mall.

In late 2020, a Chicago-based student housing developer bought a portion of the former Sears property with plans to build an 887-bed student housing project there.