Downtown ChampionsGate could be getting an artisan bakery among its new retail offerings in 2018.
RIDA Development Corp. plans to break ground in January on a 9,400-square-foot multi-tenant retail building, bringing the total amount of retail space in front of The Gate apartments to 24,000 square feet. The new building also will be designed with ample patio seating.
“I’m negotiating a lease with a high-end bakery that does artisan breads and custom cakes,” RIDA Senior Vice President Marc Reicher told GrowthSpotter. “They do weddings, but I could also see them providing a lot of breads and pastries to the area hotels.”
Reicher said he’s also in lease negotiations with a family-style, national brand hair salon for one of the four remaining retail spaces.
Hanson, Walter & Associates is the project engineer, and Schmid Construction is general contractor.
In the last two years, ChampionsGate has expanded its dining offerings with national restaurants such as Miller’s Ale House, Panera Bread, Red Robin, Tijuana Flats, First Watch, Dunkin Donuts, Jersey Mikes, Wendy’s and Menchies. And for the pups, there’s a Woof Gang Bakery.
“We’re definitely looking for some more neat restaurants, and we’re trying to find more services,” Reicher said. “We’ve already got a hair salon and a nail salon, but it would be great to get more spa services, like a Massage Envy or Hand and Stone.”
Reicher said he also would welcome a clothing boutique, interior decorator showroom or optician/eyeglass store.
The Site Development Plan (SDP) also called for a 2,500-square-foot office building, which would have served as a new headquarters office for RIDA, which currently leases space in a nearby office building. But Reicher said they decided to pull the plug on that.
“It didn’t make sense to build it,” Reicher said. “We thought we might get economies of scale, but it turned out to be better for us to stay where we are and keep renting.”
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