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JUDGE OKS FLORIDA PROJECT

A Florida state judge has told Lady Lake, Fla., developer Gary Morse that he can add 43,000 homes and four million square feet of retail to The Villages, a 25-year-old, mixed-use development in central Florida’s Lake County, one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States. A group of residents calling itself the Sumter Citizens Against Irresponsible Development had asked the judge to stop the project, arguing that the development’s request for nearly 4 million gallons of water a day would suck the area dry.

CBL BUYS PANAMA CITY MALL

CBL & Associates Properties, Chattanooga, Tenn., has bought Panama City (Fla.) Mall, a 606,698-square-foot center, and plans to expand it.

SUPERTARGET AND LIFESTYLE CENTER PLANNED NEAR MALL AT MILLENIA

The nearly completed Mall at Millenia, Orlando, Fla., can expect a couple of new neighbors soon. A SuperTarget and a lifestyle center are being planned less than a mile away. Orlando developer Toby Hardy has bought a roughly 175,000-square-foot parcel for a lifestyle center just east of Millenia, the 1.4 million-square-foot enclosed regional mall set to open in October (see story, LUXURY RETAIL’S ARRIVAL SHOWS ORLANDO HAS GROWN UP). Minneapolis-based Target Corp., meanwhile, purchased a 22-acre site at the intersection of Millenia Mall Boulevard and Conroy Road, about a quarter mile north of the mall, for a SuperTarget store. Ground-breaking is slated for this month, and completion is scheduled for the summer of 2003.

FORT LAUDERDALE’S GALLERIA UPDATES ITS LOOK WITH RENOVATION

The Galleria, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is undergoing a $50 million renovation, inside and outside, to bring its appearance in line with its performance. The enclosed regional mall, whose anchors include Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, will get an extensive face-lift, with the year-long project scheduled to begin in November.

“The mall was outdated in its look,” said Wayne Snyder, chairman and CEO of Kravco Co., the King of Prussia, Pa., retail development and management company that is managing the redevelopment and will manage the mall once the work is done. “It was too dark, and the materials were older.” However, the stores inside the mall perform well, he added, generating about $350 in sales per square foot. The Galleria is owned by Keystone-Florida Holding Corp., a group of private investors.

Kravco also will add 20 to 30 new in-line stores to The Galleria, though company officials declined to name any prospects. The escalator lobbies connecting the mall’s interior to the parking levels will be revamped with open glass walls, brighter lighting and elegant interior finishes. Palm Court, the Galleria’s main entrance, will be given a resortlike, Main Street appearance, with restaurants and cafés lining the frontage, plus a two-story glass exterior entrance connecting the various mall parking areas. The area will also include a fountain and a porte cochere offering valet parking.

MENIN TEAMS UP WITH WHOLE FOODS

Menin Development Cos. is to include a 30,000-square-foot Whole Foods specialty supermarket at its Downtown at the Gardens, a lifestyle and entertainment project scheduled to open in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in October 2003. Plans call for 351,000 square feet of mixed-use retail, restaurant, entertainment and office space, said Rob Jacoby, the company’s chief operating officer, and will also feature a 65,000-square-foot, 3,000-seat Cobb Theatres. In addition to the anchors, Menin is reaching out to national booksellers and several area art galleries as potential tenants, though no further agreements had been signed at press time. Menin is also kicking around ideas that include martini bars and an upscale furniture store, said Jacoby. Aside from the retail portion, which will dominate its gross leasable area, Downtown at the Gardens will feature about half a dozen full-service restaurants and several quick-serve eateries. The project is bordered by a number of well-established upscale shopping venues, including the 1.3 million-square-foot Gardens Mall, and PGA Boulevard, a nationally known retail corridor.

RALEIGH’S BRIER CREEK COMMONS ENTERING LIFESTYLE PHASE

AAC Real Estate Services has begun construction on a lifestyle center as part of the third retail construction phase on Brier Creek Commons, Raleigh, N.C. The 2,000-acre, high-end, mixed-use development also features a residential component and a golf course. This latest phase, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2003, will be anchored by a 14-screen Eastern Federal movie theater, and will feature a bookstore and an array of eateries that include bakeries, bistros and both quick-serve and full-service restaurants, according to the project’s Charlotte, N.C.-based private developer. The section, to span some 248,935 square feet of gross leasable area, will also offer soft-goods retailers and locally based upscale merchants.

Brier Creek Commons will serve the so-called triangle market, an upscale area bordered by Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh. The construction of Interstate 540 also helped spur the center’s development.

The project’s first phase consisted of a BJ’s Wholesale Club, which opened in September 2001. The second phase, to be completed in October, comprises Dick’s Sporting Goods, HomeGoods, Michaels Arts and Crafts, PetsMart, Rack Room Shoes, Ross Dress for Less and T.J. Maxx.

VILLAGE AT WAUGH CHAPEL ONE TENANT AWAY FROM COMPLETION

Completion of The Village at Waugh Chapel, Crofton, Md., a 71-acre mixed-use lifestyle center, is at hand. With the project’s 425,000-square-foot retail portion having opened at the end of 2000, developers Erwin L. Greenberg Commercial Corp. and Sturbridge Development Co. were seeking one last retail tenant at press time. HomeGoods, Marshalls and Safeway moved into the center initially, followed by such smaller tenants as Caribou Coffee, Dress Barn, EB GameWorld and Lady of America Fitness Center. The Village at Waugh Chapel also features a day care center and a 22,431-square-foot Robert Andrews Day Spa, one of the largest day spas on the East Coast, said Suzi Scott, a spokeswoman for Baltimore-based Erwin L. Greenberg Commercial. The project will also include 400 market-rate residential units for seniors, plus an office building housing Anne Arundel Health Systems. Sturbridge Development will complete a new office building near the senior housing and relocate its headquarters from the current Annapolis, Md., location. The Village at Waugh Chapel’s retail, commercial and residential elements are set against a backdrop of outdoor plazas, a 3.5-acre lake with waterfall and fountains, a walking path and shaded promenades.

WORK BEGINS ON ATLANTA’S CAMP CREEK MARKETPLACE

Cincinnati-based North American Properties has begun site work on Camp Creek MarketPlace, a 750,000-square-foot power center in Atlanta’s South Fulton County. A $90 million project, Camp Creek MarketPlace is slated to be a super-regional power center that will deliver much-needed shopping and dining alternatives to the region, according to company officials. Anchor tenants include Barnes & Noble, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Linens ’n Things, Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, Staples and Target. In addition Chevron, Chick-fil-A, LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster and Ruby Tuesday have agreed to purchase five of the nine outlying parcels available in the development. Store openings are slated for the summer of 2003.

EAST MEETS WEST FOR RIVERWIND

Even as Riverwind Development fills out the last portions of Riverwind West, a regional retail and entertainment complex in Pearl, Miss., near Jackson, it is gearing up for a nearby Riverwind East community center.

Opened in 1995, Riverwind West features a 34,000-square-foot Planet Rock, a children’s entertainment complex; restaurants; and a 17-screen Cinemark’s Tinseltown movie theater with stadium seating. The developer still has a vacant 20-acre component that can accommodate about 150,000 square feet of retail development, said Judy B. Hall, CEO of Pearl-based Riverwind Development, which expects to develop it in time for a spring 2003 opening.

Riverwind East will be more understated, with a 50,000-square-foot grocery anchor. An additional 175,000 square feet of retail space will feature a Dollar Tree, some movie rental stores and a few regional retail tenants.

Situated one mile east of Jackson, the site lies at the crossroads of several major highways: interstates 20 and 55, and U.S. highways 49 and 80. Hall said the developer intends to build yet another shopping center west of the Riverwind projects and is also mulling over plans for a baseball field.

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