Artegon Marketplace will close in 2 weeks
Nearly 100 retailers look for new home
Growing crowds were not enough to save “anti-mall” Artegon Marketplace, which announced Thursday it would shut down in two weeks.
Nearly 100 small, local retailers are looking for a new home after owner Lightstone Group said it would end its two-year experiment to take the “property in a new direction.” Fans of the International Drive shopping center wondered what would come next.
“It was so refreshingly different to every other mall in the area,” said Diane Heck-Thill, a tourist from Luxembourg who visits the mall four to five times a
year while visiting Orlando.
Bass Pro Shop and Cinemark Theaters will remain open for now since their buildings aren’t owned by Lightstone.
Since it opened in November 2014, Artegon has marketed itself as an artisan marketplace — filled with dozens of small shops selling items such as clothes, pop artwork and home decor. Most tenants were local sellers who relished the chance to get an indoor shopping center location at lower prices.
The next direction of the 100-acre property that contains Artegon Marketplace is uncertain. Lightstone put the property on the market in October, and real estate professionals say it could be the future home to an outdoor shopping center, hotels or condominiums.
Artegon Marketplace is just one of several troubled malls that have struggled in recent months and years. Last week, Orlando Fashion Square mall was sued for foreclosure and filed bankruptcy. Macy’s also announced it was closing its store at Oviedo Mall.
And it’s also not the first time the property has closed. The center opened in 2003 as Festival Bay Mall, but that only lasted until 2011.
Artegon’s owner has already recouped its $25 million investment, selling the properties for Bass Pro Shops and Cinemark Theaters for a combined $30 million.
Now, small retailers, such as Florida Soap Co., are searching for new spaces. Owner Misty WheelerBelin said Artegon has given her a stable brick-andmortar location, the kind she couldn’t previously afford.
“It was short notice, but we always knew something like this might happen,” said Wheeler-Belin. “Artegon is owned by a real estate company. They are here to make money.”
Real estate professionals say whatever happens there, it will include a major makeover.
“It’s a really challenging property for retail, but there is a lot of interest too since it is so close to the theme parks,” said John Crossman, a local shopping center developer.
Tenants at Artegon said it started slowly when opening in 2014, but traffic has been building month by month.
“We were busy and making money,” Otown Ink Tattoo owner Wilmary Moy said. “I have appointments two or three months out and nowhere to go.”
Moy said she invested nearly $400,000 in mid-2015 with eight employees.
But Artegon also struggled at times, as have other malls nationwide.
Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill closed suddenly in July 2015. A promised skate park never came.
After Artegon informed retailers of the decision Friday, Gods & Monsters owner Anna Young spent the day looking for a new storefront in the I-Drive area.
The shop was popular among comic book, board game and science-fiction fans for its events and game nights.
“We’ve already got a few places we are looking at,” said Young. “But we spent a lot making the place what it is.”
It’s those kind of unique stores, which supported Artegon’s anti-mall marketing push to consumers, that Orlando’s Melissa Groeneveld will miss.
“I liked that the stores were all their own and not the normal everyday retailers,” Groeneveld said.