New shopping center sprouts in Spring Hill

The complex on Spring Hill Drive will be anchored by a Kohl's department store.

By BETH N. GREY, Times Correspondent
Published January 23, 2008

SPRING HILL - Kohl's is coming to town. And an announcement about Hernando's first bookstore could be made soon.

Kohl's, the fourth-largest U.S. department store chain, will anchor a yet-to-be-named retail village on Spring Hill Drive just east of the Suncoast Parkway.

The 53-acre site includes a parcel on long-term lease from the Hernando County Airport Authority, the property where Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10209 was previously located and some adjacent properties.

Moving of dirt began last week for improvements to Aerial Way, road work financed by the county. The road, which will run through the shopping center, will eventually bring traffic from Spring Hill Drive, County Line Road and U.S. 41 to the center.

Bob McGarrity, the developer's representative for Regency Centers of Jacksonville, said the company's contract with Kohl's is "signed, sealed and now delivered."

Kohl's, a discount retailer targeting families in the 20- to 50-year-old age group, offers apparel, accessories, footwear and home amenities. Based in Milwaukee, the company has been on a major expansion push in the Southeast in recent years. The opening of its 90,000-square-foot Spring Hill store is scheduled for October. McGarrity said it would compete with Beall's Department Store.

Another newcomer, a bookstore, appears promising. "We're in serious discussions," McGarrity said. A commitment could come this week.

Along with Kohl's in the fall, the developer hopes to open doors on an additional 10,000 square feet of smaller shops, perhaps a dry cleaner, a restaurant, a shoe store, a bank, a home electronics-appliance store, a United Parcel Service unit - "what fits the community," McGarrity said.

"We have contacts with all of those."

Regency will install the infrastructure and build the 10,000 square feet of shop space. Kohl's will construct its own store.

In a second phase of building, Regency Centers is in talks with Target. "We ultimately hope they will be the other anchor," McGarrity said.

Describing the village shopping center concept, McGarrity said, "It's certainly not a strip center. It's a community center because it will service the whole area. We hope people will no longer need to drive to U.S. 19 or State Route 50 to get the things they want. There's tremendous interest in the location and the strength of the anchors we're working with."

Kohl's will face Spring Hill Drive. Shops will face Aerial Way with their backs to the Suncoast Parkway.

"That's what the retailers wanted," McGarrity said.

Regency also has conferred with the county and local residents to determine shopping needs and wants, traffic control and environmental features, McGarrity said.

The developer has pledged $400,000 to the county for traffic control design work and signs, sidewalks and a tree buffer zone, which McGarrity labeled "above and beyond." Residents of Springwood Estates have expressed concerns about Spring Park Way, to the north of the shopping center, becoming a thoroughfare once the center opens.

Since the VFW vacated its old post last year, swapping its property for a new site on Anderson Snow Road, talk has centered on a shopping plaza being developed on the property.

Until now, the developer has kept a low profile, McGarrity acknowledged.

"We really want to shout it from the rooftops now," he said.

Beth Gray can be contacted at graybethn@earthlink.net.

[Last modified January 22, 2008, 21:30:35]