SANFORD, Fla. — Jay Douglas looked at ease as he stood in front of the crowd of high-profile business and government leaders in Sanford.
“Here’s a picture from inside the mall,” he said, as laughter filled the room.
The picture on the projector screen showed a zombie apocalypse.
Douglas, managing director of development for The Ardent Companies, is now one of the people leading the way to redevelop the largely abandoned Seminole Towne Center mall, which was closed in January after years of underuse.
The mall once stood as the central gathering spot in Seminole County. Sanford leaders have been seeking its sale for years to no avail.
Douglas’ team snapped it up in 26 days and got to work.
“If you look at the history of the Seminole Towne Center Mall, it wasn’t right for this part of town,” he said, “We can do better. We’re trying to figure out what that’s going to look like.”
So far, Douglas and his team have inked a deal with Costco, which will be built at the former Macy’s site on the south side of the property.
Douglas said other retail projects would replace the interior mall stores, but no plans were firmly in place, and no designs had been set.
Part of his problem is the property’s odd shape. The anchor tenants – except for Macy’s – all own their buildings and parking lots, leaving Douglas with a somewhat mushroom-shaped parcel to work with.
There is also an undeveloped triangular piece of property across the street, which Ardent plans to build a four- or five-story apartment building on, containing approximately 300 units.
Douglas said demolition was expected to begin in mid-2026, with the first components coming online in 2027.
However, he predicted construction would happen for years as they inked deals with more retail partners.
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