| Corridor of progress By Pete Skiba |
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| The Pine Island Road corridor — Cape Coral's developing commercial thoroughfare — promises to attract business from throughout Lee County. Cape Coral officials have long said they wanted to keep the city's expanding population of more than 150,000 working and shopping here, and construction in this area aims to do just that. Consider BJ's Wholesale Club a taste of things to come. Opened in August, it is the only BJ's in Lee County and attracts people from Fort Myers to shop, said Telia Farrell, the club's spokeswoman. "We don't know offhand how many of our members live in Fort Myers or other parts of the county," Farrell said. "But, we draw customers from both sides of the river." Other smaller stores in strip plazas under construction will also attract some of the more than 10,000 people arriving to live in the Cape every year as well as people from other parts of the county. Two different plazas under construction on the corridor plan to add 140,000 square feet of business rental space. Royal Oak Center has cement block walls up and is topped off by plywood on its sloped roof on Pine Island Road at Northeast Third Avenue. Builder Chad Roeder plans to have the 15-storefront project completed in May. At least one restaurateur with plans to open up in the Royal Oak strip mall thinks the emerging corridor will work out for him. |
"My personal feeling is that the Pine Island Road corridor is the biggest growing area for business," said Tullio Marano, 55. Marano plans to open an Italian restaurant featuring fresh ingredients and homemade sauces called Nonna's Pizza and Pasta. New York Stuff-A-Bagel also plans to open a store at the center. Other tenants include Jammin Joes BBQ, Dick's Philly Cheese Steaks, a hairstylist, a soccer sports equipment store and a tanning salon named Sunny Bunz Tanning. "We try to mix businesses up so that they will all do well," said Carol Roeder, leasing agent for the center. Farther west, earth-moving equipment and construction crews labor at Chiquita Plaza. The developer, Carmelo Naccarato, from Milford, Mich., has begun construction on an 80,000-square-foot strip mall to run straight along Pine Island Road. There was no word from D'Alessandro & Woodyard Commercial Realtors, the leasing agent, on what businesses planned to move in the building or when it would be completed. To the immediate east of Chiquita Plaza's construction, the Fountain Shoppes has fieldstone walls up and half the $4 million, 40,000-square-foot project is nearly completed. In what seems to be a theme for new construction on the corridor, another restaurant plans to move in the strip mall — Stevie Tomato's Sportspage. |