Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/62026
ON THE GROUND: SARASOTA, FLA. A retail market that is anything but retiring Low home prices, tropical beauty and warm winters are some of the reasons retirees might want to consider Sarasota, Fla., ac- cording to TopRetirements.com, which just gave the city first place in its ranking. Shopping, too, is among the draws, espe- cially now that major new devel- opments and retailers are coming to town. After a lengthy drought, a flurry of planned expansions and big-box openings promises to bring some long-sought retail- ers to this sandy stretch of the Gulf Coast. Taubman Centers and Benderson Development Co. committed in March to start work on the much-delayed 1.1 million-square-foot, upscale University Town Center mall. Westfield is planning a 30-store expansion of the Westfield Sarasota Square, and Costco, P.F. Chang's, Trader Joe's and Walmart Neighborhood Market stores are all entering the 560,000-resident Sarasota- Bradenton market. "The big boys are coming, and they do a lot of demographic research," said Barry Seidel, founder and president of American Property Group, a Sarasota commercial property brokerage. Their arrival signals that "Sarasota is over the hump," he said. "It has changed from a small, sleepy town to a vibrant city." That "hump" seemed more like a mountain that blocked retail growth as housing foreclosures climbed and job losses devastated the economy. Stores closed and some centers looked abandoned. Benderson and Taubman shelved plans for Univer- sity Town Center in 2008. But indicators are looking up, 226 SCT / MAY 2012 says Carlos Ortea, an analyst at Property & Portfolio Research, a unit of Boston- based CoStar. Local retail vacancies were at 8.4 percent last year, but they have been easing in recent months. Home prices in February showed the greatest gains in five years, climbing at a higher rate than the state or the country. "Retail sales are coming back in a big way," said Ortea. Benderson and Taubman plan to start construction on University Town Center later this year, with an opening slated for the fall of 2014. Venture part- ner The Forbes Co. lured such upscale anchors as Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus to the mall. The developers did not return phone calls, but pub- lished reports say they are talking to Saks Fifth Avenue, which is now at Sara- sota's Westfield Southgate mall. And now powerhouse big boxes are filling spaces where others failed. Costco razed a former Dillard's at Westfield Sarasota Square to build a 145,000-square-foot store. Trader Joe's is planning a 7,000-square-foot store (only the second Trader Joe's in Florida) at a vacant Rooms To Go site, and the Walmart Neighborhood Market has demolished a former Winn-Dixie site to build a Neigh- borhood Market. P.F. Chang's is plan- ning to build a 260-seat restaurant. Other draws include the Siesta Key Beach; a $321 million stadium for the Baltimore Orioles' spring training; ballet, opera and theater companies; and the world-class Ringling Museum of Art. Meanwhile, Benderson hopes to at- tract thousands of the well-heeled to town for rowing regattas to be held at a $40 million planned competitive-rowing facility at Nathan Benderson Park, ad- jacent to the University Town Center. Sarasota County commissioners have al- located nearly $20 million, and Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates, which will be running the races, says the facility will bring in some $209 million in reve- nue to Sarasota plus about $22.5 million in sales taxes. Benderson has committed $2 million and the land. "We're on a trajectory for growth, and we're going to come out of this stronger and better," said Seidel. "I'm getting many calls from retail buyers looking for properties. And they aren't even trying to steal space by buying foreclosures. They are willing to pay." — Beth Karlin