Lucky’s Market Site In Florida Up For Grabs For Medical Or Grocery Space

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Reports that Lucky’s Market is shutting down almost all of its Florida grocery stores leaves the one under construction in Cape Coral in limbo.

Of the 12 existing Lucky’s Markets in Florida, only the one in Melbourne will remain operational, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Employees at the two Lucky’s Market locations in Naples were told their stores are closing.

The Lucky’s Market construction site in Cape Coral, which took more than a decade to assemble by local developer Dan Creighton, is not quite half-finished.

Creighton, who was traveling with limited phone and internet access, released a statement through Priority Marketing: “As representatives for SB-VETS-1 LLC, which serves as the landlord of this property, we are not privy to Lucky’s Market’s next steps at this point and have no additional information beyond what has already been shared publicly We are hopeful the next tenant for this site will be another excellent fit for the Cape Coral community.”

Work on the Lucky’s Market in Cape Coral has halted as the grocery chain is backing out of Florida. The building was to be completed by June but is now in limbo off Veterans Parkway and Santa Barbara Boulevard. (PHOTO CREDIT: David Dorsey)

Walls are already up on what was planned to be the 30,000-square-foot Lucky’s at the southeast corner of Veterans Parkway and Santa Barbara Boulevard. The store shell is flanked by a still-under-construction Wawa gas station and convenience store, Aspen Dental, other businesses and a new and open Burger King that are accessible from Santa Barbara.

Creighton celebrated the groundbreaking in September with city dignitaries on hand. He said then the construction would be targeted for completion by June of this year.

This marks the second time in two years a major chain has announced plans to open a grocery in Cape Coral only to back out. Fresh Market announced plans to build a store in Coralwood Mall. It backed out and Aldi has taken its place there. And now Lucky’s Market remains in limbo.

“One does not have to do with the other,” said Gary Tasman, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in Fort Myers. About a month ago, Kroger backed out of financing Lucky’s Market, which put the store in financial jeopardy. Lucky’s has been looking for a replacement partner,” Tasman said of the chain that began by a husband and wife in Boulder, Colorado. “And it’s my understanding they haven’t been able to find one. That’s why you’re seeing them retreat on their growth. Everything I’ve seen in the Cape justifies the need for additional grocers in Cape Coral based on the growth and sales and all that. But that internal partnership, it just for whatever reason separated out. The financial capacity just wasn’t there to execute it.”

Tasman said he did not know the scenarios surrounding the Cape Coral property and construction site. But he hoped for the best for Creighton, who should be able to find a solution in the long-term for what has been yet another speed bump.

“I don’t know his deal,” Tasman said of Creighton. “I can’t speak to it. But I know Dan Creighton is a very smart, astute businessman. I just have to believe he built certain protections for himself. My hope for Dan is that he is adequately protected. The risk he was willing to take to do that deal was commensurate with the risk that he was willing to take and gain on the upside and protecting him on the downside.”

As for the site’s future, Tasman speculated that another chain like Trader Joe’s or Sprouts could look at the site. Or he could see it as a medical-related space or a big-box store.

“You know, that’s a hard one right now,” Tasman said. “I’m not sure it would be retail. There’s definitely a demand for a grocer in that spot. It could also be medical. I do believe it will be backfilled into something else. If the footprint works for other concepts, frankly I think medical is a great use for it. It’s a great location. I think you’re going to see medical or a big-box retailer.”

 

Source: News-Press

Orlando Health To Buy Land Near Lakeland For Medical Campus, Hotel, And More

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Orlando Health has a contract to buy about 80 acres on the south side of Lakeland for a potential future medical campus that eventually will include up to a 360-bed hospital.

It also will feature medical office space, a small hotel and limited supporting retail, which will be built out in phases as part of a long-term plan.

Executives with the nonprofit health care organization and network of community-based hospitals said plans for the property, the first phase of which is not expected to be built for several years, are still under development, and Orlando Health will research and seek community input to ensure the eventual Orlando Health Lakeland Health & Wellness campus meets the needs of Lakeland and nearby communities in Polk County.

“Serving Polk County has been a part of our long-term growth plan for years,” said Matt Taylor, vice president of asset strategy with Orlando Health, in a prepared statement.

Sanlan RV & Golf Resort Inc. owner Edward Holloway is the seller of the vacant property that’s in an unincorporated part of the county, just south of the Polk Parkway on the east side of Lakeland Highlands Road. Orlando Health has applied for annexation of the land by the city and for changes to the comprehensive land-use plan and zoning. While Orlando Health executives do not expect traffic associated with the project to significantly impact the area, a new traffic study will be part of the process.

“Our planning is in the very early stages,” said Taylor. “We intend to take our time and be very thoughtful. We will become involved in the community at different levels, including community meetings, civic groups and a public website. When we are ready to move forward, we want to ensure we are meeting the needs of the community.”

 Orlando Health, AdventHealth and Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA) all have projects that are part of $525.1 million in facilities that will be completed this year.

Expansion projects like the new hospitals — which create temporary construction positions and full-time medical jobs — allow health care facilities to expand into new territories where they don’t already offer services. Meanwhile, area hospitals also are wrapping up construction work on new medical office buildings, freestanding emergency rooms and expansions to their current facilities that add beds or other services.

Orlando Health is a $3.8 billion health care organization with hospitals, physician practices and outpatient care centers across Central Florida. The organization is home to the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and pediatrics, and it is a teaching hospital system. More than 3,100 physicians have privileges across the system, which is also one of the area’s largest employers with more than 20,200 employees who serve more than 167,000 inpatients, more than 2.7 million outpatients, and more than 20,000 international patients each year.

Central Florida expansion is the name of the game for hospital companies in 2020. Click here for the Orlando Business Journal slideshow ‘14 Central Florida Medical Projects Set To Open In 2020‘.

 

Source: Orlando Business Journal

Boynton Beach Mall Redevelopment Plan Chops Retail, Adds Housing And Offices, Including 65,000 Square Feet Of Medical

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A plan to redevelop Boynton Beach Mall by owner Washington Prime Group was revealed this week and it halves retail space at the 34-year-old mall, adding multi-family housing, a hotel, and offices.

The master plan and rezoning request for the 116-acre site was filed with the Boynton Beach City Commission, which gave initial approval, but meets again on the plans Jan. 21.

The redeveloped mall would include a 400-room hotel, 65,000 square feet each of medical office space, and general office space, and 35,000 of new restaurant space, according to the plan filed. The redevelopment would happen over five phases, with the first phase removing the former Sears buildings and adding a 400-unit apartment building accodring to Washington Prime.

The Boynton Beach Mall once had tenants including Burdines, JCPenney, Jordan Marsh and Lord & Taylor. But, like other malls facing less in-store shopping and an increase in online shopping by consumers, retail tenants have dwindled over the years, with new types of tenants coming in.

“According to city documents, 30 percent of the mall is now vacant, and its proposed redevelopment would not only stabilize it, but make it a desirable destination once again,” said Bonnie Miskel, a lawyer representing primary mall owner Washington Prime.

In its proposal for redevelopment, Washington Prime stated that the current use of the property as an aging mall is in steady decline as it no longer meets the needs of the community and is slowly becoming a source of blight in the city. Occupancy at the mall has dropped by 11.5 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to documents submitted to the city to justify rezoning.

The proposal would reduce the existing mall square footage for retail from 1,034,745 about 1 million square feet to 482,750 square feet, and build separate, mixed-use buildings with retail use on the 1st floor and residential units above. Developers also would add up to 1,420 residential apartments on the site, along the north end and southwest side of the mall property, and inside the new mixed-use buildings.

But some Boynton Beach residents expressed concerns on the NextDoor app about mounting traffic off Congress Avenue near the mall and that mall redevelopment plans didn’t seem to include any new entertainment venues for the community, such as a park, bowling alley or sports center.

“The redevelopment would include public spaces for events and retail space that could include experiential-type tenants,” Miskel told commissioners.

The plan doesn’t have an impact on Macy’s and JCPenney, the two major department stores remaining at the mall, which are owned separately, and Christ Fellowship Church, owner of a former Dillard’s department store space in the mall.

Boynton Beach Mall is not the only mall in South Florida looking to add residential housing. Apartments are planned at Coral Square Mall in Coral Springs and at the former Fashion Mall in Plantation.

 

Source: SunSentinel