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FEATURE ARTICLE, AUGUST 2005
REDEVELOPING A BRIGHT FUTURE
Florida-based Woolbright Development has been redeveloping centers across the state. Now, the company is developing centers from the ground up.
Randall Shearin
Florida has gone from a state that was considered a half-year market by developers in the 1970s and ‘80s to one of the most vibrant year-round areas in the United States. For one developer — because of the growth and the positive demographics of the state’s major markets — Florida is the desirable place to own. Woolbright Development, based in Boca Raton, is an entirely Florida-based operation. With 18 centers in the state — and many more to come — Woolbright has experienced rapid expansion in the Sunshine State.
Southeast Real Estate Business recently spoke with Mike Fimiani, vice president of the company, about Woolbright’s plans to become a dominant owner of Florida retail properties.
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Woolbright currently is developing a 250,000-square-foot center called The Collection at Vanderbilt in Naples, Florida.
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Woolbright’s executive team has a history in retail that is far reaching. Their roots as shopping center developers and managers go back to the early 1980s. Woolbright Development as it exists today was formed in 1999. From 1999 to 2004, Woolbright primarily purchased and redeveloped grocery-anchored shopping centers in Florida. The company often sold the properties that it redeveloped, due to low cap rates and high demand for centers in Florida. In late 2004, the company switched its strategy to hold its properties. It also has added ground-up development to its capabilities and intends on doing more of that in the future.
Woolbright has just under 3 million square feet in its portfolio of 18 shopping centers. All of its centers are located in Florida. By the end of 2007, the company would like to have as many as 80 properties throughout Florida. It is a huge growth spurt for Woolbright, adding 62 centers in 2 years. However, it isn’t one that the company hasn’t thought through. Woolbright already has increased its infrastructure to accommodate the future properties, and it has increased its human capital as well.
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Woolbright’s The Marketplace at Dr. Phillips in Orlando, Florida. The company redeveloped the 315,000-square-foot center and retenanted all the small shop vacancy as well as renewed many of the existing tenants at market rents.
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“We think there is enough opportunity in Florida for us to grow at this fast pace,” says Mike Fimiani, Woolbright’s vice president of leasing. “There are about 2,100 investment grade shopping centers that we currently are tracking for purchase.”
Woolbright looks for properties — and portfolios of properties — between $10 million and $200 million. The company evaluates properties based on location, anchors, demographics and sales, and the potential for all of these factors to change. It also looks at the upside of the project.
“The project may already be well run,” says Fimiani. “However, we may find one aspect that we can do a little differently that completely will change the makeup of the shopping center and create a better asset.”
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Woolbright has redeveloped Gateway Plaza, a 214,800-square-foot center in Sanford, Florida, that is anchored by Beall’s Department Store, Toys ‘R’ Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michaels and Ross Dress For Less.
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With its expansion, Woolbright is concentrating on a number of property types within the retail sector. Historically, Woolbright has been interested in grocery-anchored centers, and it still plans to focus primarily on that center type. It also has redeveloped power centers like Gateway Plaza, a 214,800-square-foot center in Sanford, Florida, that is anchored by Beall’s Department Store, Toys ‘R’ Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michaels and Ross Dress For Less. In addition, it has redeveloped small specialty centers like the 102,000-square-foot Plaza del Mar in Manalapan, Florida, which is tenanted mostly by local and regional upscale specialty tenants. Lifestyle retail is another area where Woolbright is expanding its retail wings. The company’s Glades Plaza in Boca Raton is an example of this. At 181,000 square feet, Glades Plaza is anchored mostly by restaurants like Moe’s Southwest Grill, Brewzzi’s, Palladio Italian Gourmet Market, Cold Stone Creamery, Starbucks and Toojay’s Deli, as well as local and regional lifestyle retail like Lisa Todd and Relax the Back.
“The main component for us always has been retail,” says Fimiani. “However, in some cases office and possibly residential may be a part of the project.”
Woolbright always has concentrated on the major metropolitan areas of Florida: Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties in South Florida, and Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, Naples and Fort Myers in the rest of the state. Along with its headquarters in Boca Raton, the company has a full-service office in Orlando. In addition, most of its 18 properties also have a leasing and management office that on-site and regional employees can use.
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Woolbright has redeveloped small specialty centers like the 102,000-square-foot Plaza del Mar in Manalapan, Florida, which is tenanted mostly by local and regional upscale specialty tenants.
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Typically, Woolbright acquires an existing center where retail is in demand, rehabs it and updates the tenant mix. For example, in fall 2004, the company purchased The Marketplace at Dr. Phillips in Orlando. At the time, the center had 40,000 square feet of vacant small shop space as well as a vacant 50,000-square-foot grocery store space. Woolbright redeveloped the 315,000-square-foot center and retenanted all the small shop vacancy as well as renewed many of the existing tenants at market rents. In addition, it leased space to a 25,000-square-foot HomeGoods. As part of the renovation, Woolbright painted the center, upgraded the irrigation system and landscaping, sealed and striped the parking lot and upgraded the lighting.
While Woolbright is expanding the number of properties it owns, the company also is expanding how it finds its way into properties. Woolbright has entered the ground-up development business by actively seeking areas where new retail development is in demand.
“We always will stay focused on our core business, which is the redevelopment of existing shopping centers,” says Fimiani. “However, we are open to other opportunities that may arise and have the infrastructure in place to handle other types of properties.”
The company’s first ground-up development project was the development of the first SuperTarget in South Florida, located in Lauderhill. The company now is developing a 250,000-square-foot center called The Collection at Vanderbilt in Naples. It acquired the property from David Hocker & Associates.
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Woolbright’s Glades Plaza is a specialty lifestyle center in Boca Raton, Florida. At 181,000 square feet, Glades Plaza is anchored mostly by restaurants like Moe’s Southwest Grill, Brewzzi’s, Starbucks and Toojay’s Deli, as well as local and regional lifestyle retail like Lisa Todd and Relax the Back.
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Woolbright finances all of its acquisitions through traditional bank debt because of the flexibility that the loans offer the company. Major lenders to Woolbright include Wachovia, Wells Fargo, LaSalle Bank, Regions Bank and RBC. With its expansion, Woolbright has attracted some pension funds to acquire centers. It is partnering with funds advised by Principal Financial, Black Rock, Morgan Stanley and Heitman Financial.
To make sure its leasing agents and managers have all the information to do a deal quickly, Woolbright has invested in technology. Every leasing agent has a laptop that has the company’s property information system that automatically synchronizes when online. This makes sure everyone is on the same page regarding the company’s portfolio. It also enables the company to keep track of all its prospects and in-progress leases. The company’s Web site, www.woolbright.net, is fully automated and constantly updated. A prospective tenant, for example, can visit the site, see a center’s current site plan, tenant roster, space availability, photographs and demographics.
Earlier this year, Woolbright implemented a new leasing assistant program. It hired 10 recent college graduates with real estate degrees and its role is to exclusively identify prospective tenants for the growing portfolio.
“They are out there every day, knocking on doors and generating leads to bring to the properties,” says Fimiani. “In addition to cultivating great tenants, we are cultivating some great young professionals who are going to come up through the ranks and grow with the company.”
Fimiani, who oversees the company’s leasing, works closely with Duane Stiller, who serves Woolbright as president, and Larry Bernick, the company’s chief operating officer.
©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication
or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization
from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints
of this article contact Barbara
Sherer at (630) 554-6054.
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