Gulf View Square

Edward J. DeBartolo opened Gulf View Square in March 1980 in Port Richey, Florida, on the state’s Gulf Coast north of Tampa, with just two anchors at opening, Belk-Lindsey and Montgomery Ward. Maas Brothers joined in August 1981, Sears in July 1982, and JCPenney in 1990, bringing the cumulative anchor count across the property’s history to six.

Of those six anchors accumulated over the decades, only two remain currently operating: Best Buy and a Dillard’s Clearance Store, with one further anchor vacant and three others demolished entirely. At roughly 70,235 sqm, the mall’s second floor, formerly part of the Dillard’s clearance space, has also closed. Namdar Realty Group owns the property, with Mason Asset Management handling day-to-day operations.

Claire’s, Bath & Body Works, Ulta Beauty, LensCrafters and Victoria’s Secret carry beauty, accessories and eyewear among the more than 100 stores and services the property still lists, alongside Kay Jewelers and Zales in a jewelry-tenant cluster. Several of the property’s other historically listed tenants, including RadioShack, Body Central and Footaction USA, are chains that have closed nationally in the years since, and their continued presence in older records likely reflects outdated data rather than currently open stores.

That “three of six anchors demolished” status, a genuinely more severe form of anchor attrition than simple vacancy, distinguishes Gulf View Square from many peer Florida malls of similar vintage where former anchor buildings persist standing empty rather than being torn down entirely, reflecting a property whose owner has apparently concluded that removing obsolete structures serves the site’s long-term redevelopment prospects better than preserving them.