West St. Petersburg sits about four miles from the Gulf beaches. Before the mall went up, the Tyrone area was mostly flat land, roadside shops, and a string of roads leading toward the coast.
The name “Tyrone” had been on local maps for years. Fuller Flying Field, one of the city’s earliest airports, once stood somewhere near 22nd Avenue North and what later became Tyrone Boulevard.
The former airfield lay near the land that later became a major commercial center on St. Petersburg’s west side, with vast parking lots, department stores, and Tyrone Square at its core…