Retail developers find ways to beat back e-commerce

The traditional shopping center isn’t dead. Not yet at least. 

Proof comes in several examples in the region. There’s the Mabry Marketplace in Tampa, Jacaranda Plaza in Venice and Addison Place in Naples, to name three. Plans at Addison Place, from national real estate investment and development company WMG Development, include a new Chick-fil-A, Aldi grocery store and Heartland Dental office. These centers and others are also proof of how much landlords are trying to be flexible to respond the right way to a rapidly-changing marketplace. 

“With all these new delivery services out there, (retailers and restaurant owners) are trying to see where the real gaps are and then figure out how to best plug them,” says Charlie Alloway, a senior associate at LandQuest Commercial Real Estate in Tampa. “That’s not a very specific answer, but I think it’s true that all of retail has had to sort of step back two or three paces and go, ‘Wow. What has this done to us, and what’s it likely to continue to do to us, and how do we change what’s going on so we can be as profitable as possible.”