Target, Raising Cane's interested in locations at Westfield Countryside
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 31, 2023

Target Corp. and Raising Cane's are among the national chains interested in real estate at Westfield Countryside, an enclosed shopping mall in Clearwater.

The 1.2 million-square-foot, two-story mall, which is off of U.S. Highway 19 North, has been in receivership since 2021. The mall's previous owner, Uniball-Rodamco-Westfield, defaulted on a commercial mortgage-backed security loan in 2020, and a foreclosure lawsuit was filed in late 2020.

JLL Inc., the receiver for Westfield Countryside, said in its May management report that Target Corp. has been in discussions with Seritage (NYSE: SRG), which owns the former Sears department store at the mall. A portion of the Sears box was taken over by Whole Foods Market in 2014; in 2018, Sears closed its Countryside location.

A deal to make way for Target at the mall has been delayed because Seritage and Dillard's, which owns its department store at Westfield Countryside, did not reach a use agreement for parking, according to JLL's report.

"JLL Development will continue monitoring both parties, re-addressing the deal and to clarify future plans for this parcel by Seritage," JLL wrote.

Mark Zettl, the Chicago-based head of JLL's national property management practice and the court-appointed receiver for Westfield Countryside, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

JLL's leasing and development teams are also studying outparcel opportunities. Chicken tender chain Raising Cane's, which opened its first Tampa Bay area location in Clearwater earlier this year, is interested in an outparcel on the southwest corner of the property.

Westfield Countryside is about five miles from Clearwater's first Raising Cane's, which opened on Gulf to Bay Boulevard.