Knights Plaza
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| Opening date | September 15, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Owner | University of Central Florida |
| No. of stores and services | 14 |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | 5 parking garages, on street parallel parking |
Knights Plaza is an athletic village and shopping center on the University of Central Florida main campus. The area holds hundreds of events every year, attracting people to the 183,000 square feet (17,000 m2) of retail and restaurant space. The plaza also contains four 7-story towers housing approximately 2000 students.
Events
Knights Plaza contains many venues to accommodate events of all sizes and forms:
- Bright House Networks Stadium — 45,000 seat stadium
- UCF Arena — 10,000 seat arena
- The Venue — 2,300 seat arena
- Cypress Room Event Center
Athletics
Knights Plaza is home to the UCF Knights athletic teams and was designed as an athletic village. The football team plays in Bright House Networks Stadium, the men's and women's basketball teams in the UCF Arena, and the volleyball team in the Venue. The plaza also contains Jay Bergman Field, a 2000 seat baseball stadium for the baseball team and the UCF Track and Soccer Complex, a 500 seat stadium.
Knights Plaza and the adjacent Memory Mall are the prime tailgating location during home football games.
Special Events
The UCF Arena has hosted many comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Carlos Mencia, Bob Saget, Bill Cosby, concerts such as Elton John, Reba McInitre, Nine Inch Nails, other events such as the Harlem Globetrotters, Sesame Street Live, a Bill Clinton speech, monster truck shows, rodeos, the circus, and more.
Movies on the Plaza
Throughout the year, Knights Plaza plays movies on a 2 story outdoor movie screen in the middle of the plaza for students as well as the surrounding community residents to enjoy. Many people set up a picnic, and Knights Plaza food vendors provide at seat food delivery. Couches and seats are also provided by Knights Plaza.
Light Up UCF
Beginning in 2008, during November and December, Knights Plaza brings in an outdoor ice rink and holds events every night to celebrate the holidays. Every night during Light Up UCF, a high tech light show consisting of over 75,000 lights dances around the plaza to holiday music and live concerts by bands such as the Marching Knights. One main goal of the event is to attract non-students to the plaza in order to keep the businesses active while the school is closed for winter vacation.
Retail and Restaurants
Knights Plaza contains 183,000 square feet (17,000 m2) of retail and restaurant space. The retail stores are located on the streets on both sides of the arena, which lead back to the other stadiums. Additionally, the lobby of the UCF Arena contains a food court as well as interior access to some of the other retail spaces.
Restaurants
- Papa John's
- Subway
- Maggie Moo's Ice Cream
- Red Brick Pizza
- Volcanoe's
- Jimmy John's
- Starbucks
- Balagan Cafe
- Boba Tease
- Tailgaters
- Knightros, an all-you care to eat restaurant
Other retailers
- Barnes & Noble
- Beach Scene
- Princeton Review
- Knight Aide, a pharmacy and convenience store
- Towers Mail Center
Future
Knights Plaza has had difficulties filling its remaining retail space after Nature's Table Cafe went out of business. Many have blamed the lack of free parking, leading to UCF to suspend parking charges in garage F on non-event days. The recession also led to several other retailers never opening their doors, resulting in many unoccupied places throughout the plaza. In order to combat this problem and increase retailer confidence, events are held almost daily in the plaza and its venues. The remaining retail spaces are slowly filling in with additional retailers such as Best Cuts opening soon.
Knights Plaza was developed with plans to add additional retail space in two more phases. However, due to the difficulties leasing the original phase is likely to cause the plans to be delayed and revised. Several of the athletic venues will be expanded and renovated to handle larger crowds, including expanding the UCF Track and Soccer Complex to 1,500 seats in 2009 and Jay Bergman Field to 4,000 seats along with 9 new luxury suites in 2010. Other future expansions are scheduled to include expanding Bright House Networks Stadium to 65,000 seats.