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Officials at Benderson Development, by far the largest retail developer in the Sarasota-Bradenton market, and one of biggest landlords on the Gulf Coast, get the “why?” question a lot.
As in, why does the firm continue to build and develop when it already has so much?
It comes in the form of letters to the editor in area papers, public hearings and around water coolers and neighborhood gatherings. It most recently came from a luncheon panel discussion on the next five years of development around the busy Interstate 75-University Parkway corridor in east Manatee County and north Sarasota. One person at the lunch, presented by the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance and Manatee Tiger Bay Club, asked panelist and Benderson Director of Florida leasing Mark Chait straight up: Why does Benderson keep on building?
Chait responded frankly for a firm that places a premium on its privacy and divulges little about its intentions and strategies. “At the heart of it, we are capitalists,” says Chait. “We are business people. We rely on data. Then we take our chances and do the best we can.”
The heart of the why is the Mall at The University Town Center. A $315 million project, a partnership between University Park-based Benderson and Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers, the 880,000-square-foot mall recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Plans are in the works for at least an additional 500,000 square feet of retail, hotel, entertainment and office space on 80 acres on the east side of the mall. A residential component is in the long-term plans, too, and more retail and hospitality activity is ongoing on the west side of the mall.
Yet all this in an area already known for traffic, and even with a $75 million road project underway, its high-congestion reputation is becoming well deserved. That's the source of the questions.
Chait goes back to the core of his company's why. “We want to bring in all aspects of entertainment, shopping and living” into one place, Chait says. “We've made a concentrated effort to brand this as one area.”
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