Estero's Coconut Point mall to get two-year makeover

Coconut Point is ready for a makeover.  

The Estero outdoor shopping center will turn 20 next November, and with signs of aging starting to show, owner Simon Property Group has begun planning a makeover. 

“A shopping center is a living, breathing thing and they don’t just typically stay the same. You either improve them, they get better or you stand pat, and you watch them erode. So, we are not in the position at Simon to let things just go by chance and to rest on their laurels,” Scott Richardson, vice president of development for Simon, said at an Oct. 14 public informational meeting with the Estero Planning, Zoning and Design Board. 

“We’re always looking to reinvent, to reinvest, to make the shopping center be everything that we want it to be, everything that the community wants it to be, everything that the citizens want it to be.”  

The architecture won’t change, but the color palette will, Richardson said. 

The idea is to capitalize on the metal work, the brackets and details that make up the Mediterranean architecture, said architect Kristin Mulkey.  

“We’re not looking to make this a modern place,” she said. “We’re looking just to enhance it and just kind of celebrate what’s already there and make a refresh package,” she said. 

She showed three main colors for the buildings, alabaster, moderate white and accessible beige; tony taupe and pavestone as secondary colors; pavilion beige for the trim and urbane bronze for the accents. 

Planning board members complimented the presentation, but the majority thought the colors were too bland and needed more contrast. 

“The three primary field colors all scream white,” said board member Barry Jones. 

Simon must return to the board for approval of the final color palette. The refresh will be a two-year process and done in two or three phases, Richardson said. The first phase most likely will begin next year.