New Southwest Florida Development to Blend Affordable Condos, Retail Stores
There is little doubt about the demand for real estate - and high-end retail stores - in the increasingly affluent Southwest Florida housing market.
But Benderson Development’s plan to build 1,750 new homes next to a new mall seems a bit riskier, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports. A glut of housing has other home builders scaling back, and the number of building permits has plummeted across Southwest Florida.
Benderson is counting on the project’s New Urbanist style of Florida real estate - mixing retail, residential and entertainment in a sort of self-contained city - to be as much of a hit here as it has been in other parts of the country.
Benderson’s University Town Center won county approval Tuesday. Plans call for 1.7 million square feet of retail space, about 70 percent bigger than Sarasota Square Mall. There will be office buildings, parks, an internal trolley system, hotels, a movie theater, outdoor dining until 3 a.m. and the 1,750 homes. All in one place.
“There’s no doubt New Urbanism is something we’re going to see throughout Florida for years to come, but this project might be ahead of its time,” said Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research & Consulting in Deerfield Beach.
Noting that the median price of homes sold in this market has fallen by 18 percent from last year, and Florida mortgage demand remains tepid in this region, McCabe said it is an optimistic endeavor to start this type of project in a declining marketplace.
While some of the housing construction can be spread out until the market rebounds, a key part of the residential project is not negotiable.
An unusual facet of Benderson’s deal with the county requires it to build 437 units of affordable housing - apartments or condos - as it builds the mall.
While the other 1,313 homes can be built later, the 437 affordable homes - defined as affordable to a family of four with an annual income of $58,400 - have to be finished by the time the mall is. This is a measure enacted as part of the region’s effort to ease the pain of exorbitant housing costs.
“It’s actually front-loaded. The development order says for every 250,000 square feet they build of the mall they have to construct 110 affordable housing units,” said Wendy Thomas, the county’s manager of community housing.
And with the cost of a Florida mortgage loan still sky-high, despite rates that have remained relatively stable, that affordable housing will likely be in demand as it is built, one Realtor predicts.
“It’s a slowing market, but it’s not a dead market,” said John Petitti, a partner at Central Park Realty, which specializes in lower-income housing.
While there are bigger long-term commitments to build affordable housing, Benderson’s plans to build the mall, and the homes, within 3 years would place it on the forefront.
County officials have struggled for several years to find ways to encourage developers to build homes affordable to teachers, firefighters and police officers, health care workers and others in the shrinking middle class.
The idea is to fill those affordable units with people who can live, work and play in the same neighborhood. The rest of the residential phase of the project will be completed over a logical period of time. But for the town center idea to work, it needs residents to attract a grocery store and other retailers.
A key to a New Urbanist town center is pedestrian traffic. Even after the shops are closed, the place would still need a few people walking around for both ambiance and safety, said Bill Spikowski, a Fort Myers planner and mixed-use zoning expert.
