SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS -- part 3

SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS

In Central Florida, the city of Altamonte Springs has completely bought into the Smart Growth concept of compact development with a mix of uses. The city is partnering with several developers to create a Town Center, Main Street and structures as tall as 20 stories.

Located 10 miles north of Orlando, Altamonte Springs decided it didn’t want to be a sprawled-out suburb.

Frank Martz, director of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency and Planning Services, said the Altamonte decided its urban core would be located on at a pair of major state routes and a picturesque body of water – Crane’s Roost Lake.

“We call it True Urbanism,” Martz said of Altamonte’s take on New Urbanism. “It is transit-oriented, very dense, and pedestrian friendly.”

In a city with a population under 50,000 where the tallest buildings for ages stood at only three or four stories, plans now call for 15- to 20-story office structures, apartments and condominiums built around Crane’s Roost Lake. The Altamonte Town Center, on the sight of a former conventional retail plaza, will feature a dense urban mix of uses.

“We feel real strongly that a true town center requires somebody to live there,” said Michael Lant, president of Suwanee, Georgia- based MJ Lant Developments, which is development manager for Altamonte Springs Investments, a major player among the several companies developing in the Seminole County city.

“But you can’t just plop these down anywhere,” Lant said of town or lifestyle centers. “The right elements exist in Altamonte: a gorgeous lake -- with a boardwalk, benches and millions of dollars of city improvements -- sits right in the center of the development.”

Lant's firm developed a mixed use condominium enhanced by having restaurants on the ground floor on Crane’s Roost Lake.

“Altamonte rezoned an entire area because it had a vision for the urbanism it wanted to create,” he said. “Only a few cities are catching on that there is demand for well-done town centers. A lot of cities are still afraid of density and height. They don’t understand it can work in a city that is even suburban in origin that needs to create a town center. Altamonte is ahead of the curve.”

TOMORROW: Martin County