Goodbye WestShore Plaza: New owner will demolish the aging Tampa mall ⁠30%

By Rebecca Liebson⁠0%

7/29/2026, 6:00:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Negativity Bias, and Hasty Generalization, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 29.2% saturation with 98 hits. Analysis detected 683 faulty-reasoning hits from 336 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.7% and a BS Rank of ⁠30% (21,532 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 70.40% of the article peer group.

It’s the beginning of the end for Tampa’s oldest mall. 
After years of slumping sales and shuttered stores, a local real estate firm will tear down WestShore Plaza and redevelop the 54-acre site. 
Third Lake Partners purchased the aging mall from Ohio-based Washington Prime Group earlier this month for $135 million, according to a deed filed with the Hillsborough County Clerk’s office. 
The city approved plans from the mall’s previous owner to rezone the site in 2024, paving the way for a new project with shopping, restaurants office space, apartments, medical offices, recreational facilities, a bus station and more. 
Third Lake Partners said it would not make significant changes to those plans. 
It is partnering with St. 
Petersburg firm Echelon on the redevelopment. 
“WestShore Plaza represents a unique opportunity to reimagine a well-known property into a destination that reflects how people want to live today,” founder and senior managing partner of Third Lake Partners, Robert Forsythe, said in a statement. 
WestShore Plaza first opened in 1967. 
It quickly rose to popularity as the region’s first fully air conditioned indoor mall. 
More recently, WestShore Plaza has struggled to keep up with competition both from online shopping platforms as well as newer, flashier retail destinations like nearby International Plaza, Midtown and Hyde Park Village. 
In just the past few years, WestShore Plaza has lost several major tenants including Sears, Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods. 
In a statement, Third Lake Partners’ managing partner and head of real estate Luke Thomas said his team wants to create a more well-rounded destination that meets the needs of Tampa’s growing population. 
“We believe the future of real estate lies in creating thoughtfully designed places that bring together housing, employment, services and entertainment, and WestShore Plaza provides an exceptional opportunity to deliver that vision in one of the region’s most desirable locations.” 
It is still unclear when the mall will close its doors for good. 
No demolition permit has been filed yet. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 11.9%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 1.3%Confirmation Bias11.9%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.7%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 4.2%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 1.9%Availability Heuristic4.2%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.3%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 29.2%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 2.6%Framing Effect29.2%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.5%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 22.9%Rebecca Liebson: 16.4%Tampa Bay Times: 2.2%Optimism Bias22.9%This article: 5.1%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.7%Pessimism Bias5.1%This article: 21.7%Rebecca Liebson: 14.3%Tampa Bay Times: 3.6%Negativity Bias21.7%This article: 9.8%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 1.1%Self-Serving Bias9.8%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.5%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 9.8%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.4%In-Group Bias9.8%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 11.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 2.2%Halo Effect11.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 6.0%Rebecca Liebson: 2.1%Tampa Bay Times: 0.7%Recency Bias6.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.3%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Straw Man0.0%This article: 11.9%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 1.7%Appeal to Authority11.9%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.9%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 15.5%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 2.1%Hasty Generalization15.5%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.3%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 3.0%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 11.9%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.4%Begging the Question11.9%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 1.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.3%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 4.2%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 1.5%Anecdotal4.2%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 11.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.8%Unattributed Quote11.0%This article: 11.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.5%Quote-first Misdirection11.0%This article: 6.3%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 2.6%Biased Writer Voice6.3%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.6%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.2%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Liebson: 0.0%Tampa Bay Times: 1.8%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

336 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers37%attributed speech213writer words
Selected voice

Robert Forsythe

100%flagged-word coverage
37 attributed words30% of attributed speech44% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Robert Forsythe: 100.0%100.0%Quote-first Misdirection+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Robert Forsythe: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-9.9 ptsWriter: 9.9%Robert Forsythe: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.