Taking shape

Ahandful of major Gulf Coast commercial real estate projects are benefiting from job growth and population influx, along with demographic shifts, socio-economic trends and technological gains.
From Strategic Property Partners' $3.5 billion plan to enhance downtown Tampa to Benderson Development Co.'s more than $1 billion University Town Center project, the region will ultimately be home to millions of square feet of new commercial space.

Meanwhile, residential-dominant developments such as Newland Communities' Bexley community and West River, a joint venture between the Related Group and the Tampa Housing Authority, will transform the area with tens of thousands of new housing units across multiple price points.

“We're very bullish on the next five years,” says Todd Mathes, director of development at Manatee County-based Benderson Development Co., which is in the final phase of adding retail space to the 3 million square feet that exists at its University Town Center project, which straddles Sarasota and Manatee counties.