In the Know: Commercial building going up in Triangle Plaza near Lely Resort

Q: What is being built by the Hobby Lobby in East Naples?

— Eric W., East Naples

A: A multitenant building at 9955 Triangle Blvd. is being built on spec between Hobby Lobby and Outback Steakhouse in Stock Development’s Triangle Plaza near Lely Resort off U.S. 41 East.

Tenants have not been signed yet for the two units on the retail center’s final parcel. Stock has contracted with Heatherwood Construction of Bonita Springs to build the new 6,000-square-foot commercial structure next to a lake at Lely Resort, a community developed by Stock.

“We have about a six-month schedule. Sometime in January we should be pretty much wrapped up on the project,” said Jim Jackson, a senior project manager for Heatherwood.

The Hobby Lobby store opened next to this parcel two years ago. The 9-acre Triangle Plaza also includes a Chase Bank branch on Triangle Boulevard, the road that loops behind the Publix-anchored Freedom Square retail center and connects U.S. 41 and Collier Boulevard.

The new spec building’s unit nearest Outback has been proposed for a future restaurant with 130 seats inside a 3,357-square-foot space and another 18 seats lakeside on a 405-square-foot covered outdoor deck. The building’s remaining more than 2,300 square feet is earmarked as retail or office space, site development plans show.

“Right now it’s an empty shell,” Jackson said. “We are still building it as if it’s a restaurant on that one side. The fact that it will be built to accommodate a restaurant will help.”

The restaurant space originally was intended for First Watch, but the breakfast-lunch café chain has signed a letter of intent for a location on an undeveloped property on the other end of Triangle Boulevard at Collier Boulevard. The café is proposed across from Restaurant Row’s Starbucks on the opposite side of the Freedom Square entrance.

First Watch is the only business tentatively named so far for what has been proposed as a commercial center with three multitenant buildings on 4.5 acres bordered by Collier Boulevard, Celeste Drive and Triangle Boulevard. Each building would be 5,000 to 6,000 square feet, said Charles Ladd, president and principal of Barron Real Estate, the co-developer of Restaurant Row with Amera Corp., based in Coral Springs.

Across the street from this development, a Staybridge Suites hotel is under construction on the corner of Triangle Boulevard and Celeste Drive behind the former Kmart store at Freedom Square. The four-story hotel will have more than 100 rooms and a parking garage at 9205 Celeste Drive. Its 13,540-square-foot footprint is being developed on 2.36 acres by Stacey Development, based in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

A dental office is planned in the new unit behind Starbucks and T-Mobile in Restaurant Row, a 7-acre development along Collier Boulevard near U.S. 41 East. Two other proposed buildings in Restaurant Row still have not been constructed. One will be another multitenant building behind the future dental office; the other is a proposed sports bar planned on the lot in the center of the development between Pei Wei and the Pollo Tropical drive-thru, Ladd said.

Have a local question? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com. Tim Aten’s "In the Know" is published every Monday and Wednesday. Follow In the Know on Facebook now at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.

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