Development The developer was Melvin Simon & Associates, an Indianapolis-based real estate developer and management company, now known as
Simon Property Group Inc. This was the company's first venture in Arkansas; however, they had already built around 40 other shopping centers in the United States. The landowners were stockholders in a corporation that was listed as Developers Inc. Developers Inc. included "Judge" William J. Smith, a prominent Little Rock Attorney and adviser to Gov.
Orval E. Faubus. Smith's wife, daughter, and Son in Law Mr. and Mrs. William L. Patton, Jr. and John Cella of St. Louis who owned
Oaklawn Jockey Club, the thoroughbred racetrack in
Hot Springs, Arkansas. Developers Inc. dissolved a few months before the announcement of the mall. According to newspapers from the time stockholders of the former corporation became the owners of the mall property. George Cella and Bill Patton, children of the original corporation owners, were mentioned in the later litigation regarding the property that led to its closure and sale in 2007. Smith told a reporter that he got the idea for the mall when he was driving down University Avenue in the 1950s, when it was known as Hayes Street. He felt that it was a good buy and called John Cella and told him it would be a good investment for them. During the next 15 years, the two managed to acquire the surrounding for the mall site. This included a cemetery that was moved during construction. The acreage was leased to the Simon Property Group until 2026. In 2004 the William L. Patton Jr. Family Limited Partnership of Arkansas and southern Real Estate and Financial Co. sued Simon Property Group Inc seeking an injunction forcing Simon to "undertake any and all actions necessary" to restore the mall to good conditions. The land owners said the entire mall was in a state of disrepair and neglect. They claimed that Simon's neglect to maintain the building had been driving away tenants for decades. A team of inspectors hired by the landowners to document the condition of the mall testified in 2005 that the vacant Montgomery Ward space was full of puddles, moldy ceiling tiles, and dead pigeons. In June 2007, US District Judge Bill Wilson, Jr. ruled that Simon must make more than $7 million in repairs to get the mall into "good and tenable condition".
Demolition In October 2007, the William L. Patton, Jr. Family Limited Partnership and the Southern Real Estate & Financial Co. took out a loan for mortgage from Texas State Bank of Dallas and purchased the mall property for . The Simon management issued a deadline to the remaining tenants to vacate the mall by midnight on October 27. Strode reportedly planned to demolish the mall and build an open-air shopping center called "Park Avenue," similar to the Midtowne Shopping Center just to the northeast of the property. Strode said that after knocking down the old mall he planned to build a "lifestyle center" with a Main Street feel. The only parts of the old University Mall that would be integrated into Park Avenue were the parking deck, with a possible third level added, and the Montgomery Ward basement. Saturday, October 27, 2007, was the last shopping day at the mall, although only two locally owned retailers remained open — Paul's Shoes and Nouri Dress Shop. (Both businesses relocated to Shackleford Crossings, on the property which had been slated as the long-disputed potential Summit Mall site.) The entire University Mall property was then surrounded by barricades following the exit of all tenants. Demolition of buildings in outer parcels began in December 2007, with demolition of the primary structure starting January 2008 and finishing up in March. Strode projected that its mixed-use Park Avenue development would open on the site in 2010. Much of the mall's onetime footprint is now a parking area for the retailers within Park Avenue, while that development's
Target and other business occupy areas that were previously used for University Mall parking along the perimeter of the property. ==References==