Retail therapy: Ambitious mall makeover hits its stride

The quiet transformation of University Mall in Tampa into an urban development concept, rebranded as Uptown, recently shifted into a new gear.

RD Management bought the ailing retail complex in 2014 for $29.5 million. It has since poured at least an additional $20 million into it as the company seeks to turn the 1.3-million-square-foot property into a mixed-use hive of activity that will build on the nearby presence of the University of South Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center and Shriner’s Hospital for Children.