Preserve Plaza rising in San Carlos Park

The company is clearing the ground for a 31,037-square-foot service-oriented mall to be built on U.S. 41 at Park Road in San Carlos Park.

"Both Naples and Bonita Springs are so developed and prices are so high that there really is no place for a project like this. But there are some choice little morsels in the San Carlos Park area," Kingon said. "If you look at the number of people projected to move into the area in coming areas, it is the perfect place for service-oriented businesses to succeed."

As the community develops, businesses will be needed, she said. And as a real estate developer, she said, Kingon Homes saw it as the perfect opportunity to base its next project.

Preserve Plaza, modeled after the company's existing facility in Bonita Springs, will have 16 units of 1,900-plus square feet available for office and retail space, said Betty Partridge, business manager for the project.

"So far we have had a great response. My phone hasn't stopped ringing since we made the lots available," Partridge said. "We are aiming to make it an upscale kind of place and we already have several very good prospects that we hope to close in the next few days."

Half of the units will be available for sale and the remaining will be leased out, Kingon said.

"They will also be in condo style. I have had a lot of businesses interested in buying a place, but it is a choice piece of property, so we will only sell half the units," she said.

Pre-construction values for the units for sale will be $135 per square foot and after construction it will be $150 per square foot, Partridge said. Lease rates will be $14 per square foot pre-construction and $15 per square foot post construction.

Ground clearing has already started and construction will begin sometime in December, Kingon said.

"We are aiming to finish it in the first part of May," she said. "Our goal was to put up an attractive unit and set a precedence for other locations that come into the area."

Attractive or not, it is a precedence some residents wish hadn't been set.

"When land is available for sale, anyone can buy it. It's progress, I guess," said Ursula Clements who lives on Lexington Avenue, behind where the new plaza is being constructed. "But it is progress I would much rather not have."

Clements said she moved there three years ago because it was a quiet and peaceful neighborhood hidden from the road. Now with the clearing of trees, she said, it makes them visible from the road.

"I am not big on traffic. I liked our privacy," she said. "I would much rather drive 10 minutes to get something than have a plaza right there."

Flo Cook agreed. Cook, a Canadian, has been spending the winter at her residence on Coach Light Drive for 10 years. Last week, when she and her husband Paul came here, she said, they found the plaza going up. Though they received mailings and information about the plaza being built, they were never given the opportunity to vote for or against the development going up, practically in their front yard, Cook said.

"Right now there's a lot of noise, which I hope will get better once the wall goes up," Cook said. "But then there might be break-ins and in increase in crime rate. I am not sure. "And I would much rather not find out. We would rather not have the plaza there."

Contact Business Editor Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair at 213-6037 or rtrivedi@naplesnews.com