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Investment firm looks to purchase Fashion Square Mall

ORLANDO, Fla. — A large investment firm out of Tennessee is expected to purchase and make some big changes to the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando.

The expected buyer is Up Construction, which specializes in resurrecting struggling shopping malls.

Up Construction is being tightlipped about its plans for the mall but a quote posted on the company’s website says it’s obvious the “mall needs to be redeveloped.”

“Fashion Square and some other malls in the area, indoor malls, have had a tough go at it as far as keeping tenants,” said University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith.

Shopper Sissy Meyer said she’s been shopping at the Fashion Square Mall since it opened nearly 40 years ago.

“I think if you upgrade, you’re just going to get more people to come to the stores and it’s a positive,” she said.

Snaith said he envisions a shift to an open air, mixed-use shopping center along the lines of what Up Development has been building in Waterford Lakes in East Orange County.

The developer didn't return WFTV’s calls, but its website said the company hopes to have the deal done before the end of the year.