Shopping

By Kevin McQuaid & Doug Sword

Published: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 11:31 a.m.

Despite a still-lumbering economy in Southwest Florida, Benderson Development Co. intends to begin construction of its long-delayed University Town Center mall by the end of next year, officials say.

If that timeline holds, the opening of the upscale retail hub in late 2014 would dovetail with the anticipated completion of Sarasota County’s $40 million rowing facility and extensions to Cattlemen Road.

New plans submitted to Sarasota County for approval also show a shift away from the glitzy mall originally planned in 2005 to a focus on the rowing complex the development company is backing in concert with the county.

“All three projects have been synchronized,” said Paul Blackketter, Benderson’s executive director of planning. “And our whole direction has changed out of necessity from University Town Center to developing a world-class rowing center.”

Largely gone, as well, is the integrated, “new urbanist” design that accentuated pedestrianism and that mixed residences with commercial space and cultural amenities.

A new site plan, which will be unveiled to county officials Thursday, depicts a more traditional retail configuration, with stores and other buildings surrounded by surface parking. A planned parking garage does not appear on the new two-dimensional layout Benderson will present.

Approval of the plans is required before construction could begin.

At the same time, Benderson has reconfigured the siting of a pair of new hotels it plans to build, also by 2014, to be closer to the rowing lake at the county-owned Nathan Benderson Park, which is named for the company’s founder and chairman. Stemming from an agreement with the county, the hotels will contain at least 250 rooms, Blackketter said.

“The lake had been the back door for the residential homes we were planning,” he said. “Now, it’s the front door for the hotels and, to an extent, the retail.”

Benderson also hopes to develop a nearly 30-acre island from dredged fill dirt within the rowing complex, where it plans to construct a boathouse with corporate meeting space, docks and parking.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing permit applications for the $12 million island now, and work there could begin within six months, Blackketter said.

If approved, the nonprofit Suncoast Aquatic & Nature Association, the entity that will operate the county-owned rowing center and raise money for developments there, could begin applying for international regattas. Blackketter said the nonprofit hopes to lure the World Rowing Championships to the planned 2,000-meter lake in 2017.

that event comes, Blackketter said, it would consume between 30,000 and 40,000 hotel room nights in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Benderson is less specific about plans for its 1.1 million-square-foot mall, which had been slated to feature Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and a host of luxurious retailers before the Great Recession shelved the project.

If plans hold, Benderson would be debuting its shopping complex just after one of the dullest economies in seven decades, leaving doubts about its ability to land upscale tenants.

While luxury retailers have outperformed generally in the past two years, Neiman Marcus and others in the sector have been reluctant to commit to new stores.

Likewise, many traditional mall merchants have suffered as consumers have embraced online sales or shifted shopping patterns to discounters like Costco Wholesale Corp.

“The economy, unfortunately, is what it is at this point,” said Mark Chait, Benderson’s executive director of leasing for the Southeast.

“But looking forward, we feel it will be the right time when we are ready to begin construction,” he added. “And with all of our other leasing around University Park, it’s been unbelievably phenomenal. We are truly one of the most under-retailed areas in all of Florida.”

Chait said, however, that the company has not struck any deals with prospective mall anchor tenants. The town center will debut with at least three anchors, though it will be designed for four.

The company has been in negotiations with Saks Fifth Ave., Macy’s and others within the past year, retail sources say, to anchor University Town Center, a regional mall expected to compete with both Westfield Corp.’s Southgate Mall and Tampa’s International Plaza.

Westfield fought Benderson’s efforts after the mall won county approval in early 2007, but it could not be determined if the Australian mall owner would attempt to block University Town Center again.

Westfield officials have not returned a Tuesday afternoon telephone call or e-mail.

Blackketter added Suncoast Aquatic will also be focusing on raising $20 million to construct a boathouse and other amenities on its planned island within the lake. That money would be in addition to the roughly $20 million in public funds to develop the rowing complex at Nathan Benderson Park.

Blackketter said the park operating entity will focus on revenue-generating activities to repay public funding and make the park self-sufficient and financially sustainable.

It also hopes to attract community-oriented events and competitions such as triathalons or kayak races, he said.

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