USO mulling Festival Bay Mall acquisition?

[PeterAlt]

The Festival Bay Mall, within a hair's jump from USO, has been loosing business lately, as major tenants have abandoned ship for the area's more popular malls, such as the Florida Mall. With Disney Springs also competing for tenants, the road for the Festival Bay Mall is only going to get more tumultuous. Its current owner already announced that something needs to be done with the property, contemplating a multi-million dollar facelift as a possible solution. A more profitable solution may be to sell it outright.

The property is the ideal size for a theme park. Knowing USO has ambitions for a third gate and its proximity to the current property, the Festival Bay Mall would be an ideal acquisition for USO. Further, its current structure could be recycled as an indoor theme park - a first for the Orlando area.

I'm not implying that this is in the process of happening, but if I were running things at USO, I would certainly be looking into it...

 

[Dog Ate Mouse]

Well that would be a good piece of land that could be used by Uni for expansion or a new resort. Uni needs land and to me this would make the most sence for Uni to aquire it for the right price. Let the mall dwindle and then grab it at the right price. To me that's good news for Uni.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

As a resident, redevelopment is supposed to be happening here any minute now.
Highly doubt Universal gets their hands on that land.
If they do they can sell it and flip it. Have double tree and others give up there land and keep land closer to the resort

 

[Hobnail Boot]

Isn't that the place that used to look like a Crayola box from I-4? I'm all for Universal expanding, but as a current employee at a struggling mall, I know how the employees there must feel.

 

[NemoRocks78]

I wouldn't go for it. It's a bit too "far" from property and there's a bunch of stuff in the surrounding area, like the Premium Outlets and such. They'd be better off with the Major Blvd. expansion (if that's even possible).

As a side note, I was a fan of Festival Bay when I lived in Orlando. Even after Steve & Barry's closed and it was a ghost town, I often went there for Fuddruckers, Bass Pro, and movies at the Cinemark. That's a great theater there - I'm glad it's survived after so much has shut down at the mall.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Isn't that the place that used to look like a Crayola box from I-4? I'm all for Universal expanding, but as a current employee at a struggling mall, I know how the employees there must feel.

What employees? lol. Festival Bay is a ghost town for the most part.

 

[Mike C]

Most likely would'nt happen this is the same area that the "Orlando Thrill Park" was proposed for, and was denied. Too close to Tangelo park also. If any expansion were to occur, it would likely be somewhere along the length of Universal Blvd.