New York developer plans Naples retail

A Syracuse, N.Y.-based development firm has acquired roughly six acres in downtown Naples, where it plans a multilevel retail project expected to exceed 50,000 square feet.

Brookline Development Co. LLC capped its assemblage of property along tony Fifth Avenue South on Nov. 7, with the purchase of a two-acre tract.

Brookline is expected to fold that land into a development centered around the shuttered St. George and Dragon restaurant, a Naples icon that closed in 2012 after more than four decades in business.

The developer's two-block site, between Ninth and 11th streets, represents one of the largest land assemblages in downtown Naples in the past decade.

The $30 million in land purchases, ultimately, could link Naples' Tin City complex to Fifth Avenue. Today, the property is a moribund collection of surface and vacant lots. City officials have encouraged developers to consider structured parking on the property, and Brookline is expected to oblige that desire.

To date, Brookline has received city approvals to develop a three-story, 50,000-square-foot project, but it is likely to seek further approvals in the coming months.

David Stevens, the Investment Properties Corp. principal who together with IPC agent Rob Carroll represented Brookline in the assemblage, says the developer's project will enhance connectivity in downtown Naples.

“To have a new development palette to work from, in the form of this property, is extremely exciting,” says Stevens.

Brookline officials could not be reached for comment.

Carroll says Brookline's project will be a “future-focused retail development” that has the “potential to change the entire front door to Naples.”

He adds that the project, slated for a 2019 or 2020 completion, will likely attract national tenants.

“We envision a wholly different project than what is on Fifth Avenue presently,” Carroll says. “This will be a destination: Experiential, with food, fitness and design anchors.

Since its formation in 2001, Brookline has developed in excess of 2.5 million square feet in eight states. The company maintains its Florida office in Tarpon Springs.