A major, 8-acre development is planned along Kingshighway in Southtown.

According to Carol Howard, and the Southsider Newspaper, developer John Clancy of Palm Beach Florida. The development will include retail space and apartments. Carol Howard says that it will modernize the Kingshighway corridor and bring more people to what was once the bustling Southtown area. No renderings have been released of the development but could most likely come in a few weeks as Clancy wraps up negotiations on acquiring land. The 8-acre site is located where Louis F. Meyer Youth Center was located.

The developer is also turning the old Shop N' Save into a Planet Fitness and small grocery store. The former Applebees will become a Hook and Reel seafood restaurant. The name Cornerstone Chippewa is the LLC name developing the property. The actual name of the development could be, and most likely will be, different. 

This is just one of three developments coming to Kingshighway South of Chippewa. One is the old National Guard/Armory Building (unknown plans), and the YWCA at Lansdowne and Kingshighway is being converted into 15 apartments and office space by Garcia (ongoing). But that is for a different thread.

Location of the development is located below in red. Blue is Planet Fitness. Yellow is Hook and Reel. Green is the Armory parcel.

Without having much intel on the project (yet, will learn more this weekend), I will assume that John Clancy will include some plans to brighten up the former Shop N' Save Plaza with a new retail building or two as well as connect the red sit to Chippewa by building streets on either side of the old Shop N' Save. I will also assume that he will buy the old Armory and either redevelop it or demolish it for something new. Hope to share more when the time comes.

Great news! I grew up in that area, and it's sad to see how much it's declined.

RIP Famous Barr

In all honesty, I would be shocked if the apartments have a better design than Aventura. Never heard of this developer and can't find his work. At least it will fill in some gaps and give Kingshighway a new look. 

Used to take gymnastics lessons at the YWCA, glad to see it isn't going to keep sitting empty. It's a shame there can't be a more fundemental transformation of that intersection towards a more urban environment. 

chriss752 wrote: In all honesty, I would be shocked if the apartments have a better design than Aventura. Never heard of this developer and can't find his work. At least it will fill in some gaps and give Kingshighway a new look. 

I assume it's this guy, who owns Smoothie King and Planet Fitness franchises.

-RBB

rbb wrote:

chriss752 wrote:In all honesty, I would be shocked if the apartments have a better design than Aventura. Never heard of this developer and can't find his work. At least it will fill in some gaps and give Kingshighway a new look. 

I assume it's this guy, who owns Smoothie King and Planet Fitness franchises.

-RBB

Could be but not 100% sure. If so, this guy appears to have some money.

This entire area between Chippewa, Kingshighway, Delor, and Ridgewood needs a complete overhaul. Add some cross-streets. Add some residential. 

framer wrote:This entire area between Chippewa, Kingshighway, Delor, and Ridgewood needs a complete overhaul. Add some cross-streets. Add some residential. 

Cornerstone Chippewa is hopefully a good start. Sizable chunk. I want that Burlington plaza to go away at some point along with some of those strip malls fronting Kingshighway. But this project is hopefully the start. 

Quick question: Do you know if they're preserving the pool as an amenity in the YWCA conversion? (I spent many happy days swimming there as a youngster) 

framer wrote:Quick question: Do you know if they're preserving the pool as an amenity in the YWCA conversion? (I spent many happy days swimming there as a youngster) 

The pool was filled in. Garcia has been posting some progress photos on Instagram.

https://instagram.com/garciaconstructio ... kkbbwk7ulr

chriss752 wrote: In all honesty, I would be shocked if the apartments have a better design than Aventura. Never heard of this developer and can't find his work.

If you have never heard of this developer or seen his work, why would you be shocked if the apartments have a better design than Aventura?

^Seems like a new developer. May want to go cheaper in an area where something this large hasn’t been tried yet.

Here are some things I found on Location CRE’s website.




Here is the site today.

Is St. Mary Magdalene's Parish Center/Bowling Alley no longer there? Do they no longer use the athletic field? It's been a while since I've been down that way.

framer wrote:Is St. Mary Magdalene's Parish Center/Bowling Alley no longer there? Do they no longer use the athletic field? It's been a while since I've been down that way.

Google Maps showed a building there late last year, so I assume that was the bowling alley. The athletic fields don't exist here either.

rbb wrote:
I assume it's this guy, who owns Smoothie King and Planet Fitness franchises.

-RBB

Yep, that is him.  This guy has quite a backstory; used to work at Stratton Oakmont for the "Wolf of Wall Street" and then Monroe Parker Securities. 

framer wrote: Is St. Mary Magdalene's Parish Center/Bowling Alley no longer there? Do they no longer use the athletic field? It's been a while since I've been down that way.

I was wondering the same thing, the school has been closed for a while and their last CYC teams have been gone for almost as long. I guess they must have torn everything down and sold it off?

The building was demolished recently, like spring of this year.   I played 7th and 8th grade soccer on that field for Magdalene, i didnt go to school there but Resurrection had a combined team 

I just saw that Southtown Pub is closing.  Normally I don't get too worried about a restaurant or bar closing...happens all the time, but this one worries me.  That seemed to be the one business holding that stretch of Kingshighway together.  Big loss.

SouthCityJR wrote: I just saw that Southtown Pub is closing.  Normally I don't get too worried about a restaurant or bar closing...happens all the time, but this one worries me.  That seemed to be the one business holding that stretch of Kingshighway together.  Big loss.

I think the owners messed up with some unnecessary expansion. There is an auction on the 7th and 8th for the equipment

The residential area around Christy Park is so nice. I would be interested to know what those living in the vicinity of this development think about it. They certainly don't seem to be organized at the level of having some kind of form-based code for their commercial strip: this looks like it's going to resemble strip mall/suburban retail architecture with no character - just the kind of thing that Skinker Debaliviere shot down recently at the corner of Skinker and Delmar.

According to Carol Howard, detailed site plans are underway and the old Armory is under contract. The development itself will be very similar to Chroma. That’s the example they are using. No renderings yet.

Some other things...
- Hook and Reel will open soon.
- There was an appliance store near Burlington, that will become a gym. So this area won’t have a shortage of gyms anytime soon.

That appliance store was a gym before it was an appliance store.  They were the ones that converted the space from a tire/auto repair space (closing in the back wall, filling in the floor, etc).   They didn't last very long.

I'm pretty excited about the potential of this project. I like that Central Corridor momentum is bleeding down into pockets of South City.