LAKELAND - A development company plans to build a 550,0000-square-foot
outdoor shopping area on Harden Boulevard just south of Lakeside Village that could bring 1,000 jobs.
The mall, which would be about 1,000 square feet smaller than Lakeside, would be on 70 acres just south of the Polk Parkway.
Leonard Mass, a vice president with Drummond Co., said he expects construction to begin in 2014 and the first store to open by 2015.
The mall will be called South Village, Mass said.
Asked if Lakeland was big enough to have two malls so close together, Mass said studies the company conducted show that growth over the next 10 years will be in the southwest portion of the city.
"Our studies indicate that several million square feet of retail will be needed in the Lakeland market," he said.
Mass said South Village's proximity to the Polk Parkway will help bring in residents from Winter Haven and the Plant City area.
He said several large retailers have expressed interest in Lakeland, but declined to release any names.
"We are looking for stores to complement what Lakeside has done," Mass said. "Maybe a Dick's Sporting Goods or a Best Buy."
Single and multi-family homes with 180 units, 70,000 square feet of retail and office, at least one hotel and possibly two large anchor stores are planned.
Based in Birmingham, Ala., Drummond Co. will take the first steps toward the mall when it requests a land use change from residential to commercial at a Planning and Zoning Board meeting at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and the vote should come Oct. 16.
After that, state officials will look at the mall plans because it is a large-scale commercial project and a development of regional impact (DRI), said Celeste Deardorff, long- range planning manager for the city.
Deardorff said Drummond Co. has set aside 50 acres next to the proposed development for conservation.
By next spring, city commissioners will likely vote on zoning for the project.
Drummond built Grasslands and Oakbridge in South Lakeland. It was partners with the owners of Lakeside, Casto Southeast, but sold its interest in the outdoor mall in 2007.
Mass said South Village may be a different type of mall than Lakeside. He said it may be an unenclosed shopping center called a power center where there are two anchor stores and smaller stores you can walk to outdoors.
Steve Kirn, executive director of the Miller Center for Retailing, Education and Research at the University of Florida, said it's popular right now to have outdoor malls that provide entertainment, food and shopping areas.
He said the developers have likely analyzed population trends, income levels in the area and social trends to determine what stores would fit in the area.
News of South Village comes as a new mall in North Lakeland is expected to break ground Nov. 1.
Lakeland Park Center will be built on U.S. 98 North just south of Target. It will be anchored by Kohl's.
A PetSmart and Dick's Sporting Goods also are planned and there have been rumors that Toys R Us and Best Buy may open.
Construction on Lakeland Park Center is expected to be finished in 2014.
The development should bring about 550 jobs once the 31 parcels are filled. The center also includes eight, 20,000-square-foot outdoor spaces.
