In the Loop

>>Tom Wilder looks for market voids when considering where to build his trademark "Loop" retail and leisure centers. That he found such a void on Charlotte County’s Jones "Loop" Road was "purely coincidence," he says.

"The market between Sarasota and Fort Myers is the next great growth market in Florida," says Wilder, principal with the Wilder Companies, a retail real estate development and management firm in Boston. Wanting to be part of that growth, Wilder Companies in 2005 purchased 200 acres located a quarter mile from I-75, with frontage on U.S. 41, for The Great Loop–Southwest. "We’re right smack in the middle, with great access and a four-county [Charlotte, Sarasota, DeSoto and Lee] trade area
to draw on."

That means The Loop could have shoppers who have been spending money in neighboring counties flocking to Charlotte County instead. "Our research shows there are tremendous shopping dollars leaving Charlotte County for Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples," says Wilder. How much, he couldn’t say. But John Wright, president of the Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce, agrees. "A lot of our spending dollars go outside of Charlotte County to Lee and Sarasota counties."

With groundbreaking set for spring 2009, plans for The Great Loop boast 1.2 million square feet of retail space, with eight restaurants, at least one hotel, a movie theater and office space. Wilder expects the retail shops to open by 2010, and plans also are in the works for as many as 500 residences.

"We haven’t had anything of this magnitude" in Charlotte County, says Don Root, director of the Charlotte County Economic Development Office. Root says an economic impact analysis of the project shows that the county can expect to see a $50 million net benefit over the first 10 years as well as 3,388 jobs when The Loop is in full swing.

"They’ve done their homework. They’ve gotten through the process, and I think the timing is right," Root says.