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Retail boom continues, marks hot trend
By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER NEW TAMPA -- As tractors last week cleared the 2 acres of scrub land he owns just north of Interstate 75, developer David D'Onofrio sat behind the wheel of his Ford Expedition and admired the scenery. "This is a great location," D'Onofrio said. "It's got great visibility, and it's in the heart of the New Tampa market." That market, for big box retail and parking-friendly plazas, is the hottest in the Tampa Bay area, according to one brokerage firm. And it's about to get hotter. D'Onofrio is spending about $5-million building a shopping plaza at the southwest corner of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Dona Michelle Drive. In four months, a Pier 1 Imports, a 40-year-old specialty furniture store, and Mattress Giant, a Texas-based bedding retailer, will move into the 25,000-square-foot complex. D'Onofrio said he's talking to a third possible tenant, a cellular company that he could not name precisely. The plaza is next to Krispy Kreme Donuts and Lee Roy Selmon's BBQ Restaurant, which are now under construction. The addition of Pier 1 and Mattress Giant is just the latest indication that Bruce B. Downs is the hottest national retail corridor in the Tampa Bay area, said Patrick Berman, an associate director for Cushman & Wakefield, a brokerage company. "In the next 10 years, there's another 11,000 residents headed for New Tampa," Berman said. "Retailers love to hear that. You have young families where the median age is something like 32. So almost everyone out there is a consumer. That is where retailers want to go." Already retail A-listers Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens, Home Depot and Lowe's have staked their claim in New Tampa. More are on the way, Berman said. Berman said he could think of only two drawbacks that could douse the corridor's hot streak. "You have a limited amount of vacant land," he said. "And the road. It's over capacity. That's a problem." -- Michael Van Sickler can be reached at 269-5312 or mvansickler@sptimes.com.
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