Melbourne Storefront Forced To Remove $10,000 Mural

Screenshot from Instagram. Photo by arcademonsters | Instagram

Is artistic expression under attack, or is a property management company within its rights to destroy a mural? A popular Florida arcade, Arcade Monsters, claims that in less than two weeks, on February 28, its Melbourne location had the mural it commissioned and completed by Febrary 16 forcibly scraped off of its storefront. 

Uncovering Florida reached out to Arcade Monsters for more information and spoke to one of the company’s managers, Jack Cordero, for the arcade’s side of the story.
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According to Cordero, Arcade Monsters paid approximately $10,000 for the mural, a collaboration piece between Cope2 and GenkiGoth Studios, between the cost of the art piece itself and flying Cope2, a renowned artist from New York City commissioned by companies like Adidas, Time Magazine, and Converse, out for the project.

​Yet, Cordero states that Kimco Realty, who manages the property, demanded that Arcade Monsters remove the mural less than a month later.

Photo by arcademonsters | Instagram

According to Cordero, Kimco Realty considered this mural “graffiti” and gave several notices for Arcade Monsters to remove it before sending out a removal team itself. 

"They removed a beautiful mural titled 'Electric Love' on our storefront. When they called our store, they said we had to remove the graffiti [...]" said Arcade Monsters in part on their Instagram video showing the mural being removed. "Meanwhile, they allow amateur art on two other storefronts in the same plaza [...]"

Now, Cordero says that Arcade Monsters is being held responsible for Kimco Realty’s costs to have the mural removed.

Additionally, Cordero noted that Kimco Realty manages the entire plaza in which Arcade Monsters Melbourne is located. However, Cordero claims that a few neighboring businesses in the plaza also have art on their own store fronts, as this post by Arcade Monsters shows. He also discussed with us how Arcade Monsters has “put up art before and other people in the same plaza have novice art up” currently. 

Cordero furthered that he was unsure if permission was obtained between the companies prior to commissioning the mural, and it is unclear at this time if the lease required the arcade to get permission in the first place. 

Arcade Monsters has five different locations, but the one in Melbourne is one of the newest. The building is more than 13,000 square feet and boasts a restaurant, anime art exhibit space, bar, and merchandise store, in addition to an arcade. It is open to all ages. 

Cordero believes that Arcade Monsters “revitalized the plaza” and stated that the arcade company took the largest available space. 

In response to Kimco Realty’s actions, Arcade Monsters plans to start a new festival, called Electric Love, to honor the erased mural. While Arcade Monsters is in the early stages of planning this event, they plan to feature visual, literary, and performing arts and intends on including vendors, musicians, DJs, and other performers.

Uncovering Florida has reached out to Kimco Realty for a comment and will update the article accordingly.

​Article by Ema Tibbetts