Coastland Center

By Clay W. Cone, staff business writer

Coastland Center is Naples' first and only regional shopping center, offering a variety of merchandise, services, special events and entertainment.

The mall originally opened in September 1977. A major expansion was completed Nov. 8, 1996, more than doubling the size of the original mall.

The shopping mall is at the corner of U.S. 41 North and Fleischmann Boulevard.

Phase one of the mall started in mid-1976 and consisted of a "V" shaped shopping center with a total of 311,674 square feet of retail space including two major department stores - Sears and Maas Brothers (later Burdines).

A second phase was added in August 1985, practically doubling the size of the mall to 546,118 square feet. The expansion brought in JCPenney and Robinson's (which later became Maison Blanche and then Dillards.)

In April 1990, the mall was purchased for $58.7 million by the Coastland Center Joint Venture, headed by LaSalle Partners Management Limited. LaSalle Partners, based in Chicago, manages and leases approximately 180 million square feet of retail, office, mixed-use and industrial facilities for corporations, institutions and other public and private real estate owners.

Within two years, the new owners took the first step in what was to become a long process of seeking approval to nearly double the size of the mall again by filing a so-called development of regional impact application with the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council and the Naples City Council.

After considerable public debate and a special mail-in referendum, the mall gained permission to expand in October 1993. The $50 million project added considerably more space to each of the four existing deparmtent stores and created a larger food court area. More space was also added for small retail stores and restaurants. Three parking decks were added to handle the store expansion.

With its continuing evolution, the mall has far exceeded its original expectations. When the mall first opened in 1977, officials projected annual sales of $30 million with up to 500 workers. The newly expanded mall is expected to have annual sales of $190 million and employ 1,500 people.

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