In the Know: What’s planned for vacant Sweetbay stores in Naples area?
Q: Is anything being planned for the space previously occupied by the Sweetbay grocery store which closed down several years ago in the Green Tree shopping center on the corner of Airport-Pulling and Immokalee?
— C. West, North Naples
A: Although questions regarding the status of the area’s vacated Sweetbay stores are asked frequently, the response hasn’t changed since similar questions were answered in this column more than three years ago.
New anchor tenants still have not been signed to replace three Sweetbay Supermarket locations in Collier County that permanently closed in February 2013 as part of the company's plan to shutter more than 30 underperforming stores in Florida.
In addition to the former Sweetbay in Green Tree Center, the retail center on the southwest corner of Airport-Pulling and Immokalee roads in North Naples, the former grocery stores remain vacant in Magnolia Square at Goodlette-Frank and Pine Ridge roads in North Naples, and in Countryside Shoppes at Santa Barbara Boulevard and Radio Road in East Naples.
When these local stores closed, Sweetbay was part of the Belgium-based Delhaize Group, but Sweetbay was purchased in May 2013 by Jacksonville-based grocer Bi-Lo Holdings, which owns the Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie chains. The sale included the long-term leases for the Sweetbay locations that closed earlier that year in the Naples area.
Five months later, Bi-Lo announced it was retiring the Sweetbay name and rebranding all remaining locations as Winn-Dixie. For example, the former Sweetbay store on the corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Collier Boulevard was rebranded as Winn-Dixie in March 2014.
Although Winn-Dixie stores didn’t open in the other vacated Sweetbay locations here, Bi-Lo still holds their long-term leases. For instance, the former grocery store in Green Tree Center still has nine years remaining on its lease, so Bi-Lo continues to pay rent, said Jack Crifasi, president of Crifasi Real Estate Inc. and the manager and leasing agent for the shopping center.
“Our desire is to have that space with a tenant that is bringing traffic to the center,” Crifasi said. “We are in talks with a tenant for half of that space.”
A business approached the center with an offer to take all of the nearly 50,000-square-foot space, but it was not the tenant fit desired, Crifasi said. Bi-Lo and Crifasi also originally did not want to split the large store, but that remains an option.
“It may be beneficial to the center to have two smaller tenants rather than one larger tenant. We’ll have to see how it goes,” Crifasi said. “I suspect it will be another two or three months before we know if we have somebody there, but it looks promising.”
Crifasi continues to be in discussion with prospective tenants that have expressed significant interest in the former Sweetbay location.
“There’s a big, big demand here, a lot of interest in that space. It’s one of the best alternatives they could find,” he said.
However, because the empty store at 2482 Immokalee Road is within about a 2-mile radius of three Publix supermarkets and two Walmart Supercenters — as well as a Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market, Sam’s Club, Super Target and the future Seed to Table store from Oakes Farms — it’s doubtful that it will be filled by another grocer.
"At the end of the day, we will have a tenant that's compatible with our shopping center," Crifasi said.
Similar situations exist with the other former Sweetbay stores here.
At 51,261 square feet, the space in Countryside Shoppes is the largest vacancy. The shuttered store was a Winn-Dixie supermarket until 2006, and Sweetbay opened there in early 2008.
“We are currently in negotiations with national retailers to lease space in Countryside Shoppes. Our policy is such that we do not disclose prospective tenant information in advance of final lease execution from all parties,” said Brandon Glenn, communications manager for DDR Corp., the shopping center’s owner and a real estate investment trust based in the Cleveland area.
A representative of the Courtelis Co., the developer of Magnolia Square, could not be reached for comment regarding the shopping center’s former Sweetbay store and the anchor’s long-term lease. Courtelis would consider subdividing the 46,000-square-foot space for the right tenant mix in this retail market, according to a previous discussion with a Courtelis broker.
Know more
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