 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Shopping Centers Today -> August 2003
 PRINT THIS STORY: |
  CHANGE TEXT SIZE: |
SIMON, JACOBS VIE IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
BY IAN RITTER
 |
| Simon’s center (above) would be only about 10 miles from Jacobs’ planned project. |
Two mall developers, eager to tap the population growth and high incomes of southwest Florida’s Lee County, have each made plans to build a 1 million-square-foot-plus mixed-use center there. But the projects would be less than 10 miles apart, and retail experts familiar with the area say there’s room for only one.
Little wonder, though, that the developers — Simon Property Group and The Richard E. Jacobs Group — are smitten with the locality, which is sandwiched between Fort Myers to the north and Naples to the south on Florida’s Gulf Coast, an area known for its beaches and resorts. The population, currently about 500,000, is increasing by about 20,000 permanent residents per year, says Paul O’Connor, the county’s director of planning. That growth rate has led to the issuing of 4,654 single-family housing permits in the first nine months of 2002, according to a CB Richard Ellis report.
“We’ve known for a long time that the number of rooftops was getting to the point that another shopping center was going to be feasible,” O’Connor said.
The population increase is coupled with the high incomes of the surrounding area, and those are bleeding into Lee County. Naples has the highest per-capita income of any metropolitan area in the United States, while Fort Myers ranks 20th, according to 1999 U.S. Census Bureau data. And Lee County does not currently have a regional mall. The closest ones are Simon’s Edison Mall, in Fort Myers, and General Growth Properties’ Coastland Mall, in Naples.
Though neither developer has broken ground yet, Simon’s Coconut Pointe Town Center has been in the works for four years, while Cleveland-based Jacobs began planning Gulf Coast Town Centre five years ago. Simon plans to start construction early next year, but at press time Jacobs had set no date for ground-breaking.
The plans on each side have evolved considerably. Both companies originally planned enclosed regional malls; now both are considering open-air centers and characterize the retail portion of their projects as lifestyle.
The Jacobs proposal for Gulf Coast Town Centre calls for 1.4 million square feet of retail. There will also be offices, 5,000 residential units and a hotel. The plan calls for as many as three department stores, a theater, big-box tenants and a “village-like street of specialty shops,” said William N. Fullington, SCMD, vice president of marketing services at Jacobs.
Gulf Coast Town Centre, which the company started leasing at the ICSC Spring Convention in Las Vegas in May (Fullington has not identified any tenants), is scheduled to open sometime in 2005. Jacobs says it has all of the zoning approval it needs. The site lies just east of Interstate 75 in the county’s unincorporated San Carlos Park area. It is also near Florida Gulf Coast University and its approximately 6,000 students.
This would be the first Florida center for Jacobs, which owns two malls in Ohio and another in Raleigh, N.C., as well as a power center in Louisville, Ky. It could also be its last in the Sunshine State, Fullington says. “Southwest Florida is the only remaining part of Florida that really has a lot of opportunity for development,” he said.
The Coconut Pointe location is south of the Jacobs site, in the unincorporated Estero community. Simon’s plans call for 1.8 million square feet of retail, 300,000 square feet of offices 1,200 residential units and a 600-room hotel. The company says it hopes to sign perhaps two department stores, a home improvement anchor and numerous big-box, restaurant and specialty-shop tenants. Simon’s partner, Chicago-based Oakbrook Properties, will develop most of the residential portion.
Coconut Pointe’s first phase is scheduled to open in the fall of 2005, with the rest set for completion in the fall of 2006.
Close and similar as the two projects may be, Jacobs and Simon insist (publicly at least) that the centers won’t compete with each other. But others disagree.
Both sites are “excellent,” says Larry Foster, a managing partner of the Naples and Fort Myers offices of CB Richard Ellis, but the market isn’t growing fast enough to support both centers. The successful developer will be the one who attracts the department stores, he adds. Department stores that don’t have a presence in the area, such as Nordstrom, will be interested in opening a store at only one of the sites, he says. At press time neither developer had named any anchors.
“The smartest thing would be for these guys to pair up,” offered Foster.
Well, that’s not going to happen, both developers insist. Yet it has happened before — and in the same state. Taubman Centers and The Forbes Co. each proposed a mall in the Orlando area, but eventually teamed up to co-develop Mall at Millenia there in October 2002.
Simon’s site is in an already dense area, while the Jacobs location is in a part of the county set to experience a good deal of future growth, Foster says. He notes that Jacobs might have the upper hand, though, given Gulf Coast Town Centre’s nearness to the interstate. “I kind of prefer the Jacobs site, as a consumer.”
For her part, Meg Judge, CEO and chairwoman of the Estero Chamber of Commerce, is putting her money on the Simon project. “I would think that Simon has the inside track, just because of their success,” she said, referring to Simon’s position as the largest mall owner in the United States, with 238 centers.
The real trial for both developers will be filling their centers with enough in-line tenants willing to test a new market, said Glen Harrell, CLS, SCSM, SCMD, general manager of The Waterside Shops at Pelican Bay, an upscale, 265,000-square-foot lifestyle center in Naples owned by Dallas-based Clarion Realty Services. Despite the growing permanent population, the area remains very tourist-driven, with most sales activity occurring over a six-month period, Harrell says. He doubts either project will flourish if both go ahead. “It seems like they’re their own worst enemies.”
 | Current Issue December 2008 |