In Southwest Florida, at least, Westfield Group is likely in the fight of its life.

The company isn’t just facing the challenges of a growing demographic for whom the traditional mall is not the center of the retail universe. Its Southgate and Sarasota Square complexes must soon confront the Mall at University Town Center, a $315 million project on University Parkway that promises to shift luxury retail gravity to a new hub.

Already, the project by Manatee County’s Benderson Development Co. and Michigan-based Taubman Centers Inc. has claimed several of Southgate’s tenants. Indeed, the Mall at University Town Center’s key anchor, Saks Fifth Avenue, will close its 40,000-square-foot store in Southgate when the new mall opens in October.

Others jumping ship include Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Gap, Express and Gymboree.

But Westfield, a 55-year-old Australian company whose roots stretch back to the suburbs of Sydney, has shown a remarkable ability to adapt to changing times, fierce competitors and new geographies.

The global shopping center manager — it now has more than 100 malls scattered around the globe — has developed a knack for remaking its properties, whether by redeveloping existing centers to fit a different mold, or adding unlikely tenants like Costco or Target to fill vacancies and draw new customers.

“Westfield has been very innovative in the past, and brought new life into old formats,” said Jeff Green, an analyst with Phoenix-based Jeff Green Partners who closely traffics the retail trade in Southwest Florida.

It will need that inventiveness to preserve regional shopping destinations that have served Sarasota County for decades.

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