Historian traces Colonial Plaza’s rise, mid‑century prominence and stalled redevelopment plans

Rachel Williams, historian at the History Center, told an audience that Colonial Plaza opened Jan. 31, 1956, as a then‑modern shopping center and later expanded into an enclosed mall before much of it was demolished and rebuilt as a power center in the 1990s.

Williams said the center was planned by an investment syndicate led by Michael Sudhakow and originally held about 25 stores, "including one major department store," and that developer representatives promoted the project as a response to Orlando’s projected postwar growth. "Colonial Plaza is being designed and built in the light of the city's future growth," Williams quoted from a contemporary representative.

Why it matters: Williams framed Colonial Plaza as emblematic of mid‑century suburbanization and changing retail patterns that shifted shopping away from downtown streets to car‑oriented centers with large parking fields and air‑conditioned interiors. Those shifts, she said, shaped Orlando’s development and continue to influence local redevelopment debates.

Key facts and timeline: Williams said an early phase of the center opened in 1956; a 1962 expansion added a four‑story Jordan Marsh and an enclosed concourse that increased retail space and parking; a 1973 addition brought a larger Belk and pushed the mall toward nearly 1 million square feet and more than 100 stores. She described the Plaza Theater (now Plaza Live) as opening in the early 1960s as Orlando’s first two‑screen theater.

Williams recounted that the plaza’s 1956 grand opening attracted extraordinarily large crowds — "an estimated a 150,000 people showed up," she said — overwhelming the available 2,000 parking spaces and requiring police and fire department crowd control.

Decline and redevelopment: According to Williams, department‑store consolidations and changing shopping habits in the early 1990s left Colonial Plaza with roughly a 50 percent vacancy rate. Cousins New Market bought the property and largely demolished it in 1995, replacing most enclosed concourses with a power‑center layout anchored by big‑box and discount retailers. Williams said only a small portion of the original 1956 strip and the 1973 Belk footprint remain in today’s center.

On recent plans, Williams noted that Kimco Realty Corporation, the current owner, proposed in 2022 to convert portions of the center to mixed‑use residential, reduce asphalt, add landscaping and a public park, and remove the remaining 1956/1973 facades. "There hasn't been any further mention of these plans and there's no public timeline for redevelopment," she said.

Attribution and sourcing: The presentation relied on archival reporting (including quotes from the Orlando Sentinel) and photographs Williams cited from museum holdings; Williams also flagged that an earlier claim she made in a museum article — that Colonial Plaza was the first enclosed, air‑conditioned mall in Florida — was incorrect. "Colonial Plaza is technically the second air conditioned enclosed mall in Florida, but second only by a week," she said, citing the earlier opening of Coral Ridge Mall in Fort Lauderdale.

What remains: Williams pointed out surviving tenants and structures tied to earlier eras (Barnes & Noble and Petco occupying pieces of the original 1956 strip; portions of the 1973 Belk building) and said the site today functions as a regional shopping center albeit with much altered form.

Next steps: Williams said she expects further research on ownership and leasing patterns could clarify barriers to redevelopment but emphasized there is no announced redevelopment schedule from the owner. The lecture closed with audience questions about nearby Fashion Square and Azalea Park; Williams described ownership and lease complexities as factors that often slow redevelopment.