Originally developed by a joint venture of Eddie Debartolo of DeBartolo Realty & JCP Realty, Inc. (a subsidiary of JCPenney) and the second mall in western Broward County (the first was Broward Mall in 1978), it is currently managed by Simon Property Group, which owns 97.2%, having fallen to Simon following the 1996 merger of Simon and DeBartolo Realty into Simon DeBartolo Group.
History
The mall opened on October 3, 1984 with four anchor stores: two Miami-based chains, Burdines and Jordan Marsh (Jordan Marsh joined a year later), along with New York-based Lord & Taylor and national retailer JCPenney. Initially, the second of its kind (a single level center with three bi-level anchors) in Broward County (the first was Pompano Fashion Square 15 years earlier), the mall is almost identical to Boynton Beach Mall and The Florida Mall with its space frame ceiling, similar to other DeBartolo properties.
Room existed for a fifth future anchor, and in 1989, Sears joined making Coral Square the second mall in Broward with five anchor stores. No other mall countywide housed five anchors at that time except for The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale, though eventually Pembroke Lakes Mall would in 1992, six years later.
Shortly after, department store consolidations began to impact the anchor line-up. In 1991, Lord & Taylor was replaced by Mervyn's and Burdines converted Jordan Marsh into a men, children and home store. The 1997 withdrawal of Mervyn's led to Dillard's joining, until 2010. Kohl's joined in 2011.
The mall was renovated in 1995, 2008 and 2022, but never expanded aside from the aforementioned addition of Sears. Meanwhile, Burdines merged with Macy's in 2003, becoming a 2 store operation under the Macy's nameplate in 2005.
On November 26, 2016, a shop owner shot and wounded an employee, then fatally turned the gun on himself.[3] Coral Springs Fire Department took the wounded to a nearby hospital, where they were expected to be ok. The mall was closed for the morning then reopened later in the afternoon with heavily armed Coral Springs Police Officers.
On February 6, 2020, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 39 stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2020.[4] A contract with Round 1 Entertainment was pending as well. [5]
