An Atlanta-based developer has purchased a 75-acre portion of the recently shuttered Seminole Towne Center in Sanford and announced plans to redevelop the property into a mixed-use destination with multifamily, retail, and hotel uses.
Brady Lessard, Sanford’s Director of Economic Development, confirmed with GrowthSpotter that the price of the sale to The Ardent Companies was about $17.5 million. The deal involved the vacant, 324,681-square-foot enclosed regional mall, the 160,000-square-foot former Macy’s building, and a 13.5-acre development parcel.
A representative for the developer declined to share more details on the company’s plans, but Lessard released a statement that “the scope of this project will amount to the largest retail redevelopment in Seminole County’s history.”
“We will work in close collaboration with the City of Sanford and other stakeholders to redevelop this site into a mixed-use district that will once again serve as an exciting hub of activity for residents and visitors. We look forward to sharing more details soon,” Matt Shulman, CEO of The Ardent Companies said in the release.
The approximately 1.1-million-square-foot Seminole Towne Center, developed by Simon Property Group, opened in 1995 and was initially successful. However, the once-upscale mall fell on hard times, leading the previous owners to shut down most of the property earlier this year. The mall’s main retail anchor businesses — Dick’s Sporting Goods, JCPenney, Elev8 Fun, and Dillard’s — sit on separately owned parcels and will remain open, but the rest of the mall is set to be demolished.
Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel
The former Macy’s store at Seminole Towne Center closed in 2020. (GrowthSpotter Archives)
The property’s decline came to a head when the mall closed for three days in February 2024 after the building’s electricity was shut off due to the owner’s failure to pay the utility bill.
Previous developers have tried unsuccessfully to revitalize the decaying property. Boca Raton-based The Altman Companies was under contract to purchase a 13.5-acre section of the mall consisting of a parking lot and the former Macy’s, which shut its doors in 2020. Altman planned to build a 354-unit apartment community, but the developer backed out of the deal in 2022.
Sanford city records
Multiple developers previously tried and failed to replace the former Macy’s and a parking lot at the southern end of the Seminole Towne Center with apartments. (Seminole County Property Appraiser)
A succession of other companies also tried and failed to move forward. City officials are hopeful that the completed sale to The Ardent Companies will finally jump-start the mall’s redevelopment.
Sanford Mayor Art Woodruff said that the city is “excited to see the Ardent team bring commerce and vitality back to this critical economic center.”
Ardent focuses on the acquisition and development of commercial and residential properties, mainly in the southeastern United States, and is no stranger to large-scale mixed-use developments. For example, the developer is pursuing a $200 million redevelopment of a former Coca-Cola bottling facility in Durham, NC, with plans for 370 apartments, 24 townhomes, and 68,356 square feet of commercial space. The company has acquired 11.8 million square feet of commercial space and also has acquired, developed, or entitled over 2,300 multifamily units, 10,700 single-family lots, and 2,500 rental homes.
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