Robinson Gateway could transform north Manatee County
NORTH MANATEE COUNTY
Here, almost 300 acres are home to little but an old tree farm and nursery, to cows and pastureland.
Fast forward to 2025.
In 10 years, Robinson Gateway will be a new north entrance way to Manatee County, bringing with it development -- residential and commercial -- and hundreds of new residents. The scope of the project is being compared to Lakewood Ranch and University Park.
Still, little is being developed yet, even though a number of housing developments have already been approved near the Hillsborough county line in Parrish.
Whether Robinson Gateway, a 288-acre multi-use development with residential units, retail and office space, a movie theater and hotels will prompt construction and more development is yet to be seen.
"What makes this unique is you have mixed use with a strong commitment to office and regional serving retail in
context of a walkable community," said Edward Vogler II, attorney for the developer and co-owner of the property. "That is different. It doesn't exist around here."
Robinson Gateway, named after the same family as Robinson Preserve in Northwest Bradenton, was a vision of businessman Bill Robinson.
"He always had a vision of bringing a development and community that he can be proud of and can appropriately fit in and serve the north county area," said Will Robinson, Bill Robinson's son. "We are excited to bring a mixed-use community that will not only be a regional serving development but also something that is needed in the north county area. ... I think because it resulted in a fabulous plan that we are very proud of and one that we can't wait to come to fruition."
Robinson Gateway, just to the north of Moccasin Wallow Road between Interstate 75 on the west and Carter Road on the east, is about two miles south of the Hillsborough county line. The Interstate 275 interchange is one exit south of where Robinson Gateway will be built.
"This is a large project with good access," Vogler said. "I would expect it would be attractive to retailers and service providers not currently in the marketplace. ... It is a regional project that will benefit not only north county, but south Hillsborough County and potentially south Pinellas County."
The plan for Robinson Gateway includes 542 residential units -- 320 single family units and 222 multi-family units -- 900,000 square feet of retail space, 600,000 square feet of office space, a 1,750- seat movie theater and 350 hotel rooms. The project also touts about 40 acres of open space and parks.
Some of the residential units could be built over retail and office spaces, according to conceptual site plans.
With an expected buildout date of December 2025, construction won't begin overnight now that the developers have the county's approval.
"Any project of this type would take at least a year or two to get started," Vogler said.
But, per ordinance, construction must begin within five years.
Traffic, traffic, traffic
Once built, Robinson Gateway is anticipated to generate 41,416 total trips per day, according to county documents.
To address the traffic, among planned road improvements are the widening of Moccasin Wallow Road; adding turn lanes at three intersections along Moccasin Wallow; and signalizing the northbound ramps at I-75.
The amount of square footage that will exist in Robinson Gateway is at least as much square footage as at University Town Center, Vogler said. The amount of available retail space alone is larger than the 880,000-square foot Mall at University Town Center.
"As the area grows, additional retail and additional users will find its way," Vogler said. "Based upon what you see and what people have done in the marketplace, it doesn't look like a lot more commercial. It doesn't look like University Parkway. I just don't see that."
Vogler said he expects Robinson Gateway to be popular with retailers.
"Our challenge is to make sure it is executed as well as they have done in the University Parkway corridor," Vogler said. "It's a good lifestyle."
With access to the interstate, Ben Jordan, president of the Parrish Civic Association, said Robinson Gateway looks like a good place.
"It is good because it offers a theater, which people have said they want," Jordan said. "It has a big box which can be a Target or Home Depot which people out here said they want. From that standpoint, it is good. ...They are locating it where logically a big box store and theater should go with a lot of access to everything."
Living over the retail and commercial units will also be a change. "I don't know that people are ready for that kind of living, but that is up to the developer," Jordan said.
Substantial, self-contained
The Robinson Gateway development is "unique" because it is such a large piece of land, said Stafford Starcher, president of Realtor Association of Sarasota Manatee.
"I think they realize they have to do commercial to make it a self-contained place, which is positive," Starcher said.
Once built out, the commercial portion of the development and possible future commercial development could take some traffic away from University Parkway.
"When the commercial thing gets in, from restaurants to shopping, it would sort of take some of heat of the University Parkway thing because they would not have to go all the way down there," Starcher said. "As you know, we have a little bottleneck down there."
Parrish residents want commercial and are tired of driving to University Parkway, Jordan said.
"They want this place to look nice when it is over," he said. "That is the problem with not having a plan."
A full-service sitdown restaurant is the biggest need in Parrish, Jordan said. Once the first restaurant such as an Outback Steakhouse comes to Parrish, others may follow.
"People don't understand how close and the ease to get to Tampa, St. Pete and Sarasota," he said. "People that run restaurants don't understand. ... We just need to get that first one."
Lakewood Ranch is celebrating its 20th year and they are still building out, Stafford said.
"They have a long way yet to go there yet they try to say that is a place to work, live and play," he said. "If that is part of the model up there (Robinson Gateway), it should work very well."
Different from LWR
Unlike Lakewood Ranch, Parrish is not a planned community, which is the biggest issue, Jordan said.
"It is not like Lakewood Ranch," Jordan said. "We sort of have to live with this developer has this land and wants to put a shopping center and this developer has this land and wants to put a housing development."
Despite a number of developments approved for the area surrounding Robinson Gateway, some of those approvals came 10 or more years ago, according to John Osborne, county planning official.
"We can't project one development over others," Osborne said. "If you look at the concurrency map, there are things approved all around (Robinson Gateway). ...When you see that, there is a lot of development out there, but take it with a grain of salt."
Osborne said looking back to all the booms and busts, Manatee County only averages between 2 and 2.5 percent annual increase in population each year. This equates to about 1,800 dwelling units per year on average.
The market has also changed since some of the developments got their approval, and Osborne predicted some may come back and redo their plans for different lot sizes.
Whether Robinson Gateway will prompt construction of some of those projects is yet to be seen.
"You have to have the rooftops before you have the commercial, typically," Osborne said.
Robinson Land Holdings Joint Venture owns the land and the developer is MW Gateway Development LLC of Bradenton. Bill Robinson, whom Vogler described as the visionary of the project, acquired the land in the late 1980s.
At buildout, the development's annual property taxes will yield $6.3 million in revenues to Manatee County, according to county documents. County impact fees for roads, fire and emergency medical services, parks and utility fees are expected to exceed $23 million by buildout.
Stafford said the real estate market in Florida is on the upswing, boding well for Robinson Gateway.
"It is probably a great time for that to happen," Stafford said. "People are still retiring and coming here. They are probably in at a good time. Twenty-five years is a long time. We will see the ups and downs during that time."
Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter @Claire_Aronson.
This story was originally published April 12, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Robinson Gateway could transform north Manatee County ."