Mall at UTC bids farewell to manager before holiday season

The Mall at University Town Center is seeing some significant leadership changes just before the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

The mall’s manager, Octavio Ortiz, and the mall’s marketing and sponsorship director Kim Dominguez have been replaced by two Taubman Co. employees, Taubman’s Amy Grundman said in an email.

“A seasoned management team of two Taubman employees are in place for the interim to assist during the holiday shopping season and to help ensure a seamless transition as we look to fill the general manager and marketing sponsorship director positions,” Grundman’s email stated.

Details for the reason of Ortiz and Dominguez’s departure were not provided. Attempts to reach Ortiz and Dominguez were unsuccessful.

At the end of October, Taubman refinanced its loan on the Mall at UTC, which cost them $315 million to build. The new, non-recourse loan is $280 million over 10 years at 3.45 percent, according to Simon Leopold, Taubman’s CFO and executive vice president. Refinancing allowed Taubman to pay off the facility’s floating construction debt of roughly $225 million.

“UTC is an excellent illustration of our development strategy,” Leopold said. “We create value in recycled capital by putting long-term, fixed-rate financing on our centers upon stabilization and using the excess proceeds to reinvest in our business.”

Taubman owns a 50 percent interest in the Mall at UTC. The 880,000-square-foot enclosed shopping mall in Sarasota opened in October 2014. Since opening, the mall has had seven stores close. A combined six retailers opened their doors for the first time in October and November this year.

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Mall at UTC bids farewell to manager before holiday season."