An art deco-inspired renovation is planned for the CVS-anchored Princeton Center retail strip on College Park’s Edgewater Drive early next year, with work expected to run in line with construction of the 205-unit Princeton at College Park apartments next year, the property’s owner told GrowthSpotter on Friday.
Final design renderings are now under review by city planners for renovation of the 0.9-acre retail building at 2201-2217 Edgewater Dr., set between W. Smith and W. Princeton streets.
Building permit applications should be submitted in November, with an expectation to start renovation work in January 2017, said James W. Kersey, manager of Princeton Center LLC, an affiliate of Orlando-based Real Estate Cooperative.
“We’re re-skinning the building and re-stuccoing it, modifying the look that was last done to it some time in the 1970s,” he said. “We’re drawing on original photographs of what the building looked like when it was originally built in the 1940s. It will have a strong art deco look to it.”
The redesign will remove all the ornamental work added to the building in recent decades that has taken it away from its original art deco design, and will give it a sleeker look that “takes it into the future,” said Danny Gordon, designer with HuntonBrady Architects.
“We’ve also proposed a canopy on the Edgewater Drive side to encourage pedestrian activity,” he said. “There will be signage and a canopy running along the entire front of the building.”
Renovation of the retail building is part of the city-approved development requirements for The Princeton. The apartment complex’s certificate of occupancy is contingent on it.
The Princeton Center retail strip will join a few other commercial buildings on Edgewater Drive with an art deco design, namely the Top Drawer Consignments shop, and the Publix supermarket at 2501 Edgewater Dr.
Kersey declined to project a budget for the project at this time, due to three contractors currently reviewing the drawings to offer price estimates by late October.
Construction work should not interfere with operations of the businesses in the retail center, which include Tijuana Flats, Subway, CVS Pharmacy and Jem Hair Studio, Kersey said. The work should run 90-120 days, and be complete in Spring 2017.
That retail renovation is scheduled in conjunction with work being done on the rear parking lot by Pollack Shores Real Estate Group, developer of the planned Princeton at College Park apartments.
Pollack Shores should begin site work this coming Monday on a reconfiguration of the retail center’s parking lot, to make room for the pouring of foundation for the apartment complex’s parking garage, Kersey said.
The developer will provide valet parking to employees of retailers at Princeton Center so they can park off site, in order to maximize parking behind the building for customers.
Pollack Shores’ The Princeton will include 135 apartments in one five-story building and 70 units in a three-story building (205 units total). The five-story building will wrap a six-level precast parking garage with 439 spaces.
The developer spent $5.531 million on an assemblage of 13 parcels totaling 2.55 acres directly behind the retail center in March of this year, where it will build the apartments.
An affiliate of Pollack Shores acquired a loan of $29 million from T.D. Bank out of Coral Gables to finance the property acquisitions and development.
The apartment complex is projected to be completed within 24 months, and include a leasing office, fitness room, club room and swimming pool.
Pollack Shores filed a notice of commencement in late July with Atlanta-based general contractor Oxford Properties to build the apartment complex. Demolition work on the 2.5 acres was done by Cross Construction Services out of Lutz.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at bmoser@growthspotter.com, (407) 420-5685 or 
@bobmoser333. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
