Press Releases
Source: Palm Beach PostFebruary 23, 2007
Wellington Mall Developer Picked For Port St. Lucie's
The national real estate company that built the Mall at Wellington Green is working to bring a new regional mall to another growing community: Port St. Lucie.
Core Communities LLC, developers of the 8,200-acre Tradition subdivision west of Interstate 95, announced Thursday it has chosen Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers Inc. to build a long-planned mall in the southwest corner of the city.Core executives have said they want to open a shopping center in the 1 million-square-foot range by 2011, though the company would not give any specifics about size, timing or tenants Thursday.
"We're in the middle of negotiating the details of the agreement with Taubman," said Alan Karrh, president of Core's commercial property division, adding that he hopes to reveal more in May.
The mall is planned for the northwest corner of Becker Road and I-95, a site that Karrh said will be opened up for development after a new I-95 interchange is completed in 2009.
At 1 million square feet, the Tradition mall would be slightly smaller than the 1.3 million-square-foot Wellington mall, but larger than the 900,000-square-foot Treasure Coast Square mall in Jensen Beach run by Simon Property Group Inc.
Taubman (NYSE: TCO, $62.55) is one of the country's leading real estate investment trusts and controlled more than 24 million square feet of retail space last year, said Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the New York-based International Council of Shopping Centers. That ranked it No. 23 on the council's list of the top 50 North American shopping center owners.
In recent years, the company has built both indoor and outdoor malls, and Duker said a hybrid of the two designs would be a good possibility for a Sunbelt city such as Port St. Lucie.
The company also owns the International Plaza mall in Tampa and co-owns the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, which is home to a Neiman Marcus, Chanel and Tiffany & Co.
Karrh said Taubman would be responsible for selecting tenants in Port St. Lucie. A Taubman spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
"They're going to look to see what's missing," Duker said, "and if they can bring in somebody that's new to the area, they're going to strive to do that."
Taubman opened the Wellington mall in 2001, delivering new shopping options to retail-hungry residents - and it stands to do the same in Port St. Lucie. Though it has consistently ranked among the fastest-growing cities in the country, Port St. Lucie has limited shopping options.
Port St. Lucie Councilman Jack Kelly said he thinks the mall will draw consumers from other counties, including Martin, where most of the city's residents now trek for retail.
"Instead of us going there, they'll be coming here," Kelly said. "Things are changing."
But Rebel Cook, president of Rebel Cook real estate in Palm Beach Gardens, questioned how much high-end shopping was needed in Port St. Lucie, where homes are more affordable than in South Florida.
"I would see it as a mall where... normal or middle-class retailers would go," Cook said, pointing to Dillard's as an example.