Condos soon for sale to mix with shops

Two of Naples’ major developers — responsible for creating some of the first coastal living and shopping opportunities — will soon combine the two in an ancient but quite current architectural vision: an all-inclusive village with homes above stores.

Rendering courtesy of Lutgert and Barron Collier Cos.

Mercato, a joint project of the Lutgert and Barron Collier Cos., in North Naples will include a 60-room boutique hotel, a movie theater, a Whole Foods Market and an eclectic collection of nationally known shops and restaurants. Mercato will have 175 residential units, 330,000 square feet of retail space and 100,000 square feet of office space. Whole Foods Market will take up 50,000 square feet.

Borrowing from age-old traditions — and the successful New Urbanism school of architecture — the Lutgert and Barron Collier Cos. will break ground on the Mercato — Italian for “marketplace” — this summer, with condos at The Strada scheduled for pre-construction sale June 24.

Strada means “street.”

The project will sit on the 53 vacant acres behind the Fifth Third Bank building and Walgreen’s on the northeast corner of U.S. 41 North and Vanderbilt Beach Road.

“Developers of residential properties have found that it’s not always enough to build an outstanding residence without standing features and an attractive on-site amenity package,” said Todd Kendall, director of Premier Development Services, a division of the Premier Properties realty company. “What matters most to many home buyers of all ages is convenience, and that concern extends to how long it takes to get to work, to the grocery store, to the men’s or ladies’ shop, to a good restaurant, and so on.”

Premier is a Lutgert division.

Sales prices for the 92 condos will start in the $600,000s for a one-bedroom, one-den that will measure a bit more than 1,000 square feet, Kendall said. The project will also offer two- and three-bedroom condos, with the latter exceeding $1.25 million per unit.

The Strada should be completed by early 2008, Kendall said.

Residential over retail is a concept that should sell quite well in the growing North Naples market, Kendall said.

“The timing’s right. The location’s right. The product is right,” he said of the neighborhood dubbed “uptown chic” last month.

Photo courtesy of Lutgert and Barron Collier Cos.

Mercato will be on 53 vacant acres behind Fifth Third Bank and Walgreen’s on the northeast corner of U.S. 41 North and Vanderbilt Beach Road. Vanderbilt Beach Road can be seen at the far left running toward the Gulf in the background, and U.S. 41 cuts across the middle of the photo from left to right.

Ultimately, the Mercato will include a 60-room boutique hotel, a movie theater, a Whole Foods Market and an “eclectic” collection of nationally-known shops and restaurants, Lutgert spokesman Kevin Caffrey said.

Mercato will have 175 residential units and 330,000 square feet of retail space and 100,000 square feet of office space. Whole Foods Market will take up 50,000 square feet.

It’s a lifestyle choice that will draw residents to the Mercato, Caffrey said, pointing to Kendall’s observation that “time is the amenity of the future.”

As Mercato’s closest neighbors, Fifth Third bank officials are delighted Lutgert and Barron Collier Cos. decided to build the village at that location, Fifth Third Senior Vice President Martha Bibby said.

Fifth Third is the major tenant in the eighth-floor building on Vanderbilt Beach Road, which was completed in November 2002.

New York City retail consultants Robert K. Futterman & Associates was retained to help shape the Mercato, by identifying tenants ideally suited to the Mercato’s design and philosophy.

RKF executive vice president Mitch Friedel said he was responsible for leasing space at City Place in West Palm Beach.

The Mercato was designed by Cooper Carry, an Atlanta-based firm, that designed Mizner Park in Boca Raton.

Both Palm Beach County projects were influenced by the New Urbanism/Main Street planning vision.