Crews have started tearing down the former Macy's at the Oviedo Mall, the first step in a plan to put hundreds of apartments on the property in neighboring Oviedo.
The demolition clears a 15-acre site where about 400 market-rate apartments are planned, a project valued at $125 million, Spectrum News 13 reported Thursday, describing the teardown as phase one of a larger makeover of the mall grounds.
The department store building has been empty for about a decade. Picerne Development Corporation of Florida bought the old Macy's land at the end of June and already held site plan approval, WKMG News 6 reported in July, when the mall's director of development, Kevin Hipes, said all the agreements needed to move forward had been signed.
Hipes told WKMG at the time that the developer would also build a new east-side entrance into the mall where the Macy's stood.
A second phase on 14 acres at the mall's western edge would add roughly 325 more apartments and possibly a hotel. Woodfield Development Co. was under contract on that land and working with the city on site plan approval, according to WKMG's July report.
Hipes told Spectrum News 13 that building on the Macy's site should start next year, and that the aim is to have tenants signing leases by early 2028.
Traffic and growth questions
The apartments have not been universally welcomed. In the WKMG interview, Hipes acknowledged that not everyone in the area wants more apartments, and said the city initially preferred more retail around the mall's edges before online shopping and the pandemic changed that thinking.
