Outlets Highlight the Mix at Celebration Pointe

Outlets Highlight the Mix at Celebration Pointe

Nike Factory Store and Tommy Hilfiger have joined Celebration Pointe, an experiential, mixed-use development which is highly visible along Interstate 75 in Gainesville, Fla.

The Stores, both nice fits for the large student populations in north central Florida, are scheduled to open in mid-April.

“Outlet retail is a significant component of the core of the proper ‘City Walk,’ a pedestrian-centric main street,” said Ralph Conti, principal of Atlanta based RaCo Real Estate, a development partner in the project. “Celebration Pointe is a true, mixed-use environment.”

According to Celebration Pointe’s website, the project will contain as much as 230,000 square feet of outlet space to complement entertainment uses and many first-to-market sit-down restaurants. The new Nike Factory store will serve as a 14,000-square-foot anchor. The new 8,000-square-foot Tommy Hilfiger outlet will target the area’s 75,000 college students (university of Florida has approximately 53,000 students and Santa Fe College has about 22,000 students) with community engagement and store features such as touchscreens.

“We’re placing outlet tenants in a dynamic main street environment,” Conti said. “Outlets inserted into a mixed-use environment is somewhat of a new paradigm from the traditional racetrack project. The tenants have embraced the project and they really like it.”

The Celebration Pointe project will include a mix of many first-to-market retailers and restaurants, hospitality and the market’s first true Class-A office space. The project is centered around a pedestrian-friendly main street branded “The Promenade.” When fully built, the project will contain nearly 900 luxury residences to include garden-style luxury apartment homes, scenic single-family residences and an active adult-living community. It will also have 300,000 square feet of Class-A office space and several hotels. Hotel Indigo is scheduled to open in late summer 2018.

A first-to-market, state-of-the-art 10-screen Regal RPX Cinema is set to open mid-April. Bass Pro Shops opened in November 2016 to record crowds. The project website lists numerous restaurants such as MidiCi, The Neapolitan Pizza Company, Rascall Flatts Bar & Grill, Raggae Shack Café, Miller’s Ale House and Liquid Ginger.

“This project is the true definition of live/work/play,” Conti said. “The project has been very carefully planned and designed to address brand, guest experience, quality living and work environment, sustainability, transit and walkability. We’re literally building a city within a city.”

– Published May 2018 by VRN