Empty Plazas A Common Sight

Commercial real estate follows residential.

The housing market came to a halt a couple years ago, but commercial sites continued to emerge along busy streets. Many of them remain empty.

Other existing plazas have seen their tenants move out, mostly because they couldn't pay the rent.

The Coastal Way Shopping Center at the corner of State Road 50 and Mariner Boulevard, took a major hit when Linens N' Things and Circuit City filed for bankruptcy.

"We certainly have seen the smaller store tenants not make it," said Mike Kinsella, the senior vice president of operations for Regency Centers out of Jacksonville.

Regency is the developer of Suncoast Crossing, located along Spring Hill Drive and the Suncoast Parkway.

A Target store is being built at that location. A Kohl's opened there less than five months ago.

Ordinarily, Regency opens grocery-anchored neighborhood community centers. Out of its 25 or so operating shopping centers from Panama City to Naples, all but three are anchored by Publix, Kinsella said.

Suncoast Crossing is the only one in the Southeast anchored by Target.

"It's really an anomaly for us," he said.

A couple smaller-sized retailers have signed leases at Suncoast Crossing, but there is still a lot of empty space there.

Kinsella said there are "three problematic centers" out of the 110 or so Regency-owned centers in the Southeast. Suncoast Crossing is not considered one of them.

Builders, planners and others hear the same questions all the time. Why build more shopping centers in an area where you see an abundance of emptying plazas?

"The developers are the ones who build shopping centers," said Hernando County Planning Department Director Ron Pianta. "They make those decisions."

The process from the time a location is announced to the time construction ends often lasts for more than two years - plenty of time for the economic landscape to change.

"Whenever there is intense residential growth, commercial growth follows," Pianta said.

Pristine Place, Avalon, Spring Ridge and Trillium are just some of the new subdivisions that have cropped up or rapidly expanded in the last few years.

"They're going to go where the market is," Pianta said of developers.

Many times, as is the case of Silverthorn Square in Spring Hill, whenever one or more tenants leave, the property owners raise the rent to make up the difference - making it more difficult for the existing tenants to stay in business.

Approximately 10 stores and restaurants have left Silverthorn Square in the last year. The plaza - located at the corner of Powell Road and Barclay Avenue - is barely more than two years old.

The Shoppes at Avalon is the newest retail center being built in Spring Hill. It is being anchored by a Publix.

"I'm not sure there is a more reliable retailer in Florida than Publix," Kinsella said. "They're a great draw in any community."

Pianta agreed.

"Typically, Publix is one of the more reliable tenants," he said. "They're very good at capturing their market share."