THE JAXSON | The ‘malling’ of Baymeadows

A look at the rise, repositioning and survival of Deerwood Village Mall, one of the Southside’s oldest shopping malls.

Deerwood: Jacksonville’s first gated community

Located at 9902 Baymeadows Road, the Deerwood Village Mall serves as an early suburban Jacksonville shopping mall that continues to survive the test of time and changing retail shopping trends. The shopping center’s story dates back to the 1960 development of the Deerwood Country Club, 10 miles southeast of Downtown Jacksonville. The Deerwood Country Club was Florida’s first gated community, and for many years the most exclusive residential area on Jacksonville’s Southside. The 900-acre development was the brainchild of Bryant Skinner and named Deerwood due to the property’s abundance of wildlife.

Notable golf course architect George Cobb was hired to design the golf course. The Deerwood Country Club development was financed by Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Company (SWD). At the time, SWD was Northeast Florida’s largest real estate, insurance and mortgage banking firm. Founded in 1884 as the Telfair Stockton Co., the firm also developed the communities of San Marco in the 1920s and Ponte Vedra Beach in the 1930s.

To make Deerwood’s isolated property accessible, land was donated for the construction of Southside Boulevard. Prior to this point, the only way to reach Deerwood was from Philips Highway along a 3-mile rural road called San Clerc. San Clerc eventually became Baymeadows Road and eventually received its own interchange with Interstate 95 when the highway was built.

Deerwood Village Mall is born

By the 1970s, Deerwood had become a desirable community on the edge of Jacksonville’s southward growth from the older central city. Responding to the need for commercial amenities, SWD moved forward with the development of Deerwood Village Mall at the intersection of Southside Boulevard and Baymeadows Road. SWD hired local architecture firm Kemp, Bunch and Jackson, also known as KBJ, to design the shopping center. Anchored by Publix Super Markets and Eckerds, KBJ designed the development to have a similar architectural style to the nearby Deerwood development’s lodge, which was characterized with cedar shake roofs and a significant amount of landscaping.

The Deerwood Village Mall opened its doors in 1972, 14 years after the first enclosed modern shopping mall was completed in the U.S. in Edina, Minn. Designed by architect and urbanist Victor David Gruen, the enclosed mall concept was intended to serve as a centralized mixed-use epicenter of pedestrian-scale activity for autocentric suburbia. Unlike Gruen’s enclosed mall concept, KBJ’s Deerwood Village Mall was developed as an open-air shopping center intended to better fit into the then surrounding environment of Deerwood. Two years later, the mall’s two main anchors, Publix and Eckerd, opened their doors.

The mall’s Publix was an early part of the Lakeland-based grocery chain’s second attempt to expand into the Jacksonville market. Established in 1930 in Winter Haven, Florida, Publix opened its first Jacksonville store in the Norwood’s Gateway Shopping Center in 1959. However, that store was closed in 1962. After recording nearly $500 million in sales in 1970, the chain returned to town, opening stores in Arlington Mall and University Mall and a Westside store at 4399 Roosevelt Blvd. in 1971. With the foundation established for a new division, the chain then opened a bakery plant and a produce distribution center in 1973.

By 1976, the bustling Deerwood shopping mall’s list of 32 specialty shops included Venny’s Italian Restaurant, Sarah Anthony, Waldz Deli & Bakery, Persepolis Persian Rugs, The Village Vitamin Shoppe, The Lingerie Shoppe, Little Champ Market, Children Tree House and Sam The Super Teller. With Deerwood exploding in population, an additional 15,000-square-foot of retail storefronts were added by 1978, increasing the mall’s total square footage to nearly 100,000 square feet.

Anticipating additional expansion, the City Council rezoned 20 acres in the immediate vicinity to allow for SWD to increase the shopping mall’s size in 1978. Plans included the addition of an upscale department store, comparable to a Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue, once Deerwood’s population was large enough to support it.

Deerwood Village Mall’s success births Grand Boulevard Mall

Retail expansion finally took place with the November 1982 groundbreaking of the indoor Grand Boulevard Mall by National Capital Investments, which also acquired the Deerwood Village Mall. The company shifted the focus of the older shopping center to become a “convenience center,” and tenants were targeted and positioned to not have the two shopping centers compete against each other.

Located across the street from Deerwood Village Mall, the $16 million, 289,000-square-foot, two-story upscale mall was anchored by an 80,000-square-foot Jacobson’s department store. Founded in 1838 by Abram Jacobson in Reed City, Michigan, Jacobson’s was a 25-store chain specializing in high-quality clothing, gifts and other merchandise. Unlike traditional mall-based department stores, Jacobson’s preferred smaller shopping centers, where they could serve as the dominant anchor. Jacobson’s and the developer felt the location would attract shoppers from St. Johns County, Orange Park, Mandarin and the Beaches who were used to flying to upscale centers in Dallas, New York and Atlanta.

The vision for Grande Boulevard quickly morphed amid the reality that it was too ritzy for Jacksonville. Consumers stayed away, opting for other shopping malls in Jacksonville. By 1988, more than half of the mall’s leasable retail space had gone dark, and the final nail in its coffin came with the 1990 opening of The Avenues down Southside Boulevard. In 1994, the failed Grand Boulevard Mall was sold to Florida Community College at Jacksonville for $4 million, paving the way for its conversion into the the current Florida State College at Jacksonville Deerwood Campus.

Deerwood Village Mall lives on

While Grand Boulevard Mall failed, Deerwood Village Mall continued to morph and prosper in a location accessible and surrounded by three busy streets. In 2000, Deerwood Village Mall LLC of Boca Raton acquired Deerwood Village Mall for $6.8 million. At the time of this transaction, the shopping center’s list of tenants included American Express, Carla’s Shoes, General Nutrition Center, Dunkin Donuts, Tijuana Flats, Venny’s restaurant and Persepolis Rugs. More change came in 2004, when Largo, Florida-based Eckerd Drugs was sold to CVS Corporation and Jean Contu Group for $4.5 billion. Founded in 1898, Eckerd was the second-largest pharmacy chain in the country at its peak, with approximately 2,802 stores in 23 states. A Winn-Dixie (now Rowe’s IGA Supermarket)-anchored shopping center was added in the mall’s west parking lot in 1986. Additional restaurant outparcel buildings, now occupied by Panda Express, Jimmy John’s Sandwiches, Vino’s Pizza & Grill and Las Tapatias Mexican Restaurant, were added in 2006 and 2009.

The shopping center’s original Publix,  built 50 years ago, will close on October 5, 2024. Publix plans to demolish and replace the store and adjacent CVS pharmacy space with a new 48,640-Publix Food & Pharmacy and a separate liquor store.

Present day photographs of Deerwood Village Mall

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