In November 1971, Bradenton Mall Corporation bought 100 acres (0.40 km2) along US 301 and Cortez Road for $1.6 million from 32 property owners.

Leach, was concerned that the mall which was outside of city limits would impact retailers in the downtown area but he thought they would be able to manage through it.

[3] Richard Turner, the president of the Manatee County Conquistador Group, suggested the name as he thought it would draw more attention to the celebration.

[9] Burdines expressed interest in opening a store at DeSoto Square as early as 1979,[10] though they did not join the mall until 1991 when the company merged with Maas Brothers.

[14] Several stores closed in 2009 due to the Great Recession, including Old Navy, Foot Locker, Waldenbooks and the Dillard's anchor.

[21] Mason Asset Management sold the mall for $25.5 million to New York-based Meyer Lebovitz in March 2017.

[23] Lebovitz chose Madison Properties USA LLC for the task of redeveloping and leasing the mall.

[22] The mall was used by FEMA as a disaster recovery center after Hurricane Irma hit Florida in September 2017.

[34] Sometime prior to the mall's closing, DeSoto Owners LLC filed for bankruptcy again to try to restructure the company's finances and give themselves more time.

[30] In August 2024, Madison Communities, a subsidiary of Madison Capital Group Holdings LLC, a real estate developer from North Carolina, announced that it had secured a $47 million loan to build an apartment community on its 7.5-acre parcel of the former DeSoto Mall site in Manatee County.

[35] Madison Capital Group previously purchased the former Sears anchor building for their Go Store It Self-Storage brand in September 2019.