Dec 2, 2015
New retail developments will mimic look of “small-town USA”
The retail landscape of Gainesville is about to change in a major way. Yes, construction is already underway for the expansion of Butler Plaza and the new Celebration Pointe, but Steve Kirn, executive director of the Miller Center for Retailing Education and Research at the University of Florida, predicts in addition to lifestyle centers another trend will take over: smaller, more “neighborhood-focused” retail locations instead of big box stores.
Kirn also looks to Innovation Square to add more retail along the corridor leading from campus to downtown, and bring in more companies, as well as the proposed Plum Creek development on the east side. “It's just a matter of what kind and what size [retail] it's going to be,” he says of Plum Creek. “That area is currently undeveloped and that space is not going to stay undeveloped.”
Photo credit: Erica Brough/Gainesville Magazine
Gainesville Magazine, December 2015. (Read entire article)
