Desoto Square hits the auction block
By Staff Report
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 28, 2014

An online auction of DeSoto Square is set to take place between Tuesday and Thursday this week.

The 580,325-square-foot mall is being auctioned on the site Auction.com, the Bradenton Herald said. The minimum bid is $9 million. Bidders are required to deposit $25,000 and will pay a premium of 5 percent of the purchase price to Rockwood Real Estate Advisors in New York which is representing the owner, Mason Asset Management, the Herald said.

The mall was built in 1973 by Ed DeBartolo Sr.

Mason Asset of Great Neck, N.Y. bought the mall in 2012 for $25 million. At that time the mall was struggling due to the departure of anchor tenant Dillard's in 2009 and other tenants including Foot Locker and Old Navy, the Herald said.

The mall recently convinced J.C. Penney to renew its lease and attracted a new tenant, Hudson's Furniture. However, there still are 15 retail vacancies and the Herald reported that the next owner will have to rebrand the mall and improve its image in the community by addressing a perception that it is unsafe.