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Interior design mecca opens near Naples

The megacenter, with major design names, caters to the public and the professional designer.

By JUDY STARK
Published July 29, 2006

ESTERO

The world of high-end interior design has a new outpost on the west coast of Florida.

By summer's end, the International Design Center, just off Interstate 75, will house almost 80 retail outlets and trade-only showrooms for some of the biggest names in the industry: Ann Sacks (tile), Stickley (furniture), Lee Jofa (fabrics), Kravet (furniture, fabrics, trimmings, carpets), Pierre Deux (French accessories), Baker (furniture) and Poggenpohl (kitchens).

Eighteen of those showrooms are open now, said Joan Kerns Kauffman, vice president and general manager. The design center is in a new 250,000-square-foot postmodern building with a three-story glass atrium.

"Saturday is our strongest day. We're jumping around here," she said. Last weekend the center hosted a fly-in of about 50 designers from the Orlando area. A series of events during the next few months will introduce the center to the design community and the public.

The developers hope to tap clients and design professionals from the affluent Naples market, one of the wealthiest cities in the country.

They also hope to attract designers and clients from the Tampa Bay, Sarasota and Orlando markets who have been shopping at the Design Center of the Americas in Dania, near Miami.

"You'd be amazed at the people we get in Dania from Tampa, Sarasota and Naples," said Carol Riester, manager of the Pierre Deux store who formerly worked at its Dania location. "This is a lot closer. Our customers know the product. It's a great advantage" to have a location on the west coast.

"We're a resource for the design community in a place that's closer than DCOTA," said Amy Jimenez, showroom manager for the Kravet and Lee Jofa showroom.

The showrooms on the second and third floors of the design center are "to the trade only," meaning that only designers, or clients they escort, are admitted. But the showrooms and retail outlets on the first floor are open to the public. They include Ann Sacks, Stickley, Baker, Walker Zanger (tile) and Waterworks (plumbing fixtures, tubs and tiles).

The center offers what it calls "designer on call." Those who arrive without a designer can stop at the concierge desk and ask for the services of a designer, who will lead a tour of the trade-only showrooms, review a checklist of concerns (budget, time frame, scope of the project) and offer advice. Consumers may decide to work with that designer, or may be referred to someone who lives in their area or specializes in the design style they prefer. (Visitors can also call in advance to arrange to meet with a designer.)

"We get three or four a day," Kauffman said. "When people walk in and say, 'I'm overwhelmed, it's too intimidating,' we can provide someone to walk you around and give you some level of support."

Tampa Bay area designers weren't sure the design center will meet their needs better than the suppliers they already work with.

"Right now it's easier to go to Atlanta and New York and San Francisco," said David Van Ling of Tampa, where he knows he can find the traditional or very modern styles his clients like. He was concerned that the center "doesn't have enough of what it would be worth going down for."

Many of the top names at the design center are already represented at retailers or trade-only sources in the Tampa Bay area.

"They seem to be more geared for people doing new construction who are making decisions on tile and fixtures and kitchens and baths," said Robert Kevin Cassidy of Sarasota.

"What I need as a designer is fabric houses, wallpaper, trims, upholstery. I use Brunschwig & Fils, Cowtan & Tout, Colefax and Fowler, Scalamandre. Designer Source of Sarasota carries all the big lines, they're a wonderful resource, everything's right at my fingertips."

"Naples is a little far, in my opinion," said Suzan Decker Ross of Decker Ross Interiors in Clearwater. She sometimes takes clients to DCOTA, and acknowledged the value of "being able to see a whole array in one place at one time, feel, touch and see things at your fingertips. That's wonderful."

- Judy Stark can be reached at (727) 893-8446 or stark@sptimes.com.

If you go

The International Design Center is at 10800 Corkscrew Road in Estero, between Fort Myers and Naples. From Interstate 75, take Exit 123 and turn left east on Corkscrew Road. The design center is just ahead on the right, opposite the Miromar Mall. Telephone: (239) 390-5112. Web site: www.idcfl.com. Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

[Last modified July 27, 2006, 12:58:16]