Chicago — Englewood Construction’s retail group has begun work on two new projects, including an American Girl Store in Orlando, Fla.
Chicago — The retail group of Englewood Construction, one of the country’s leading commercial construction firms, has recently begun work on two new projects, including an American Girl Store in Orlando, Fla.
“As consumers gain confidence and the economy continues to improve, we have seen a willingness for retailers to take on ground-up developments and substantial expansions,” says William Di Santo, president of Lemont, Ill.-based Englewood Construction. “There is a lot of pent-up demand in the market and healthy retailers are finding this is the right time to embark on new projects.”
American Girl continues its nationwide growth with a new 15,000-square-foot store in Orlando at The Florida Mall. The project consists of an expansion of The Florida Mall, the largest mall in Central Florida at 1.8 million square feet. The architect for the project is Morristown, N.J.-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
This is Englewood’s ninth development overall with American Girl. The Orlando store is the second American Girl Englewood has constructed in Florida. In 2012, Englewood completed an American Girl at The Falls in Miami.
In the Chicago area, Englewood has begun work on a ground-up store for Goodwill in the southwest suburbs. For this project, Englewood is constructing a new, 17,000-square-foot retail store at Airport Road and Weber Road in Romeoville, Ill.
“There is an interesting dichotomy that we are seeing in the retail market in regards to new development today,” says Di Santo. “Luxury retailers, such as American Girl, and discount retailers like Goodwill have an established niche that remains strong. We think the high-end and discount retailers will continue to thrive in the coming years.”
Construction for Goodwill began in mid-May, which first includes infrastructure work, such as building new roads to allow for convenient access to the new store. Englewood is partnering with Milwaukee-based Berengaria Development for the project and Wheaton, Ill.-based Webster, McGrath & Ahlberg, Ltd. is the architect of record.
SOURCE: Englewood Construction