Off I-75, a peek at the future

Gulf Coast Town Center was built by the same group developing Cypress Creek Town Center.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published June 3, 2007

A customer heads for Belk at Gulf Coast Town Center in San Carlos Park. The center has two areas for gathering and relaxing with a walkway of stores between.
	[News-Press photo]

ADVERTISEMENT [News-Press photo] Gulf Coast Town Center, seen here in November, was designed as more of an open-air mall than a traditional indoor mall. [News-Press photo] Gulf Coast Town Center in San Carlos Park has two areas for gathering and relaxing with a pedestrian-friendly walkway of stores between.

ESTERO - The future of central Pasco might be found on this flat expanse just beside Interstate 75, halfway between Fort Myers and Naples.

Less than a minute off the exit ramp, Gulf Coast Town Center spreads out over 1.7-million square feet of suburban Florida.

Pastel colors and gables break the conventional image of a big-box mall. A "main street," complete with gurgling manmade pools, slices through its center. It has a 16-screen Regal Cinemas multiplex. Costco. SuperTarget. Linens-N-Things. Belk. All together, more than 100 stores and restaurants.

"It's a bit spread out," said Michael Bosco.

Bosco drives people to and from nearby Southwest Florida International Airport for a living. He hangs out at the mall's Starbucks in between fares.

Listen to him and you could almost hear a central Pasco resident.

"I'm so glad to see a Starbucks here," he said. "It just opened a week ago. ... The mall is convenient for me. It looks like they did a decent job with the architecture."

You might expect Bosco to be something of a cheerleader for the mall. He is a Cleveland native and says, without prompting, that the guy who built Gulf Coast Town Center is from his hometown and used to own the Cleveland Indians.

That would be Richard E. Jacobs, the 81-year-old developer whose name can be found in small print under Gulf Coast Town Center's big signs. His company developed the mall together with CBL & Associates, a commercial property investment trust.

In central Pasco, the Richard E. Jacobs Group is raising Cypress Creek Town Center on its own.

The similarities between the two malls are striking: Their positioning right off the interstate. The anchor cinema. Even the road widening projects outside the mall that have neighbors tearing their hair out.

Rival shopping centers sit less than 10 minutes away from Gulf Coast Town Center. In Wesley Chapel, the Cypress Creek mall will compete with the nearby Shops at Wiregrass and the Grove at Wesley Chapel.

Gulf Coast Town Center opened its first phase in November 2005, shortly after Jacobs began seeking permits to build Cypress Creek.

Business seemed slow on Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day.

Two weeks ago, Carol Dataram opened Street Corner News, the mall's only convenience store. She said business wasn't great on weekends either. The mall depends heavily on snowbirds, she observed.

"We're making, like, $70 a day, which is nothing," she said.

The manager at the Regal multiplex said he couldn't comment on whether the theater is packing them in.

Still, the mall has proven its mettle in its ability to draw big crowds. Sheriff's deputies had to be brought in for crowd control when Bass Pro Shops opened for business in November 2006.

But there's one obvious problem: it's not that easy to find a place for a quick bite on the go, apart from Subway and McDonald's.

There is no food court, though signboards proclaim that nearly 20 new restaurants, including Blu Sushi and Carrabba's Italian Grill, are on the way.

Venture outside, and the other obvious problem stops you in your tracks.

It stopped Joe Cantali, too.

Outside the mall, regiments of orange-and-white barricades line Alico Road. It's going from four to six lanes. New ramps are being built off the interstate. It's a $32-million project by the state Department of Transportation to reduce congestion on the major route linking Gulf Coast Town Center, the airport and Florida Gulf Coast University.

But, to Cantali, it doesn't feel like it's helping.

Cantali runs the Pik 'N Run Pizza City joint at the Hess Station barely two minutes down Alico Road. He banged up his car recently because a barricade fell over and he swerved to avoid it. He's not happy about it.

"They've been working on that road for years," he said. "It's rutted. It's a mess. They change the lanes at night. Some places are well lit at night. Some not at all."

Has the mall at least improved his business?

"Not at this point," he said. "Maybe in the future. Not until they get that ... mess out there done."

In Wesley Chapel, the Jacobs Group is supposed to spend $23-million to widen State Road 54 and extend County Road 54. Some neighbors here fear the increased traffic. Others say it would be insane to build the mall without addressing the roads.

But, for all these growing pains, there's still admiration for this big new creation where there were just flatlands before.

"It's beautiful here," said Dataram, the Street Corner News owner. "You can get the stores, and you can get the sun."

Welcome to the future.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at cyap@sptimes.com or 813 909-4613.

[Last modified June 2, 2007, 19:23:05]