Deerbrook Inc to remodel the Center at Bonita Springs.

Center of Bonita Springs to get face-lift
By Christina Cepero
ccepero@news-press.com
Originally posted on October 21, 2007

One of Bonita Springs’ oldest major shopping centers
is slated for an extreme makeover.
Strathmore Development intends to buy the Center of Bonita Springs from Main Street Management by the end of October. Scott Chappelle, Strathmore’s president, said the Michigan-based company plans to invest about $10
million to completely remodel the
310,000-square-foot strip mall on the northwest corner of Bonita Beach Road and U.S. 41. “Strathmore intends to renovate the center and reposition it to better compete with newer retail
projects,” Chappelle said.

This is music to the ears of shop owners at the plaza. “Coconut Point has affected us. People are bypassing us to get there,” said Scott Chrzanowski, owner of Cards Anyone, referring to the 1.2-million-square foot mall that opened last year six miles away at U.S. 41 and Coconut Road in Estero. “We felt it this summer. We certainly need to do something to get customers back in our stores.” The renovations will include new storefronts, signs and landscaping. “They should fix the parking lot because when the season people come in you can’t get in and out,” Valarie Plattner said this week on her way to lunch at Teri’s Summer Breeze Cafe. Strathmore aims to reconfigure the parking lot to improve traffic flow.

The company already has made minor improvements.
This week, workers changed lights under the canopy that runs around the plaza.
The grass is mowed and the hedges trimmed. “They already cleaned up the back lot. They cleaned up the pond up front,” Chrzanowski said. Major renovations are scheduled to start after season. “We don’t want to have the place under construction for the season,” said John Wojdak of Strathmore. “We want to permit it during season and construct it off season.”

The proposed changes are scheduled to be finished by fall 2008, in time for next season. The company plans to start filling vacancies, though, as soon as it takes ownership. “Strathmore Development Co. has recently released approximately 22,000 square feet of the 30,000 square feet that was vacant,” Chappelle said.

“We expect the project to be fully leased within 60 days of closing.”
He said the company can’t announce the new tenants yet but they will be a mix of national and local retailers. “We also are working to change the tenant mix to reflect contemporary consumer demand,” he said. The anchors — Publix, Kmart and Beall’s — will remain.

“They have been instrumental in the project’s long-term success and we are working closely with our existing anchors to allow the Center of Bonita Springs to better serve the community of Bonita Springs,” Chappelle said. Beall’s department store will convert to Coastal Home by Bealls once a new Beall’s store opens at U.S. 41 and Wiggins Pass in North Naples, scheduled tentatively for late January.

Jim Simpson, vice president of stores and real estate for Beall’s Florida, said the interior renovation of the home store will take place in May to avoid construction during season. Chappelle said Strathmore was attracted to the center primarily because of its strategic location. The company’s demographic research determined more than 76,000 people live in a five-mile radius. Lee County traffic counts show an average of 42,400 vehicles a day traveled on U.S. 41 north of Bonita Beach Road and 25,600 on Bonita Beach Road east of Arroyal Road in 2006. “But the amount of traffic we get in this mall has really gone down. The building’s run down. The parking lot is
kind of hard to get into,” said Chrzanowski, who bought Cards Anyone 2 years ago.
“We have new eager owners willing to fix up the place for us, which is long overdue.”
Pat Palmisano, owner of Vacuum Depot Plus, which has been in the plaza for seven years, also welcomes the planned painting and architectural enhancements to modernize the plaza Main Street built in the 1980s. “I can’t wait till it gets going,” he said. “We need improvements to Bonita Springs. It’s wonderful,” said city resident Jean Conklin, a frequent customer at the plaza.

Kitty-corner to the Center of Bonita Springs, the 169,765-square-foot Springs Plaza, built in the 1970s, saw the completion of an upgrade this summer by owner Ram Real Estate. “Despite the oversupply of residential housing, the region is still underserved from a retail standpoint,” Chappelle said.

The company will ask the city council to rezone 28 acres at the southwest corner of Interstate 75 and Bonita
Beach Road to build Bonita Exchange — a 120,000 square foot retail center, hotel and five outparcels.