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Published Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Four Corners Expansion Project Honored for Its Design

By MICHAEL W. FREEMAN
The Reporter Editor

 

Last month, the Vista Del Lago retail and professional complex along U.S. 192 in Four Corners received the Orange County Design Excellence Award for the architectural design of its yet-to-bebuilt third phase. (LINDA CHARLTON/Reporter photos)

FOUR CORNERS -- It was 20 years ago when Steve Leary took in his first tenant in a manufactured home development that would later open up a shopping plaza known as Vista Del Lago.

"We've been here for a while," said Leary, who runs Leary Management Group. "I think there was one stoplight here when we first broke ground."

Quite a bit has changed since then, as the section of U.S. 192 in Four Corners that hosts Vista Del Lago has grown tremendously, just like the rest of the region. Vista Del Lago has been a mainstay, though, and successful enough to continue expanding. Last month, the shopping plaza also got recognized for its architectural design when the third phase of Vista del Lago's expansion was awarded the Orange County Design Excellence Award.

Cited for its winning design, the award notes that Vista del Lago Phase III was "planned with flexibility in mind . . . the exterior design elements create a simple, clean storefront highlighting the signage of the retail stores."

"This was the inaugural year of the awards," Leary said. "We're way out in the boondocks as far as Orange County goes, so we were real happy to get the award."

Vista Del Lago is a 300-acre manufactured-home development on the west end of U.S. 192. Leary and his brother Bill plan to start an expansion of the shopping center that fronts the property, adding 24,000 square feet to The Shoppes at Vista Del Lago. The property rests on the southern end of Orange County. Right across U.S. 192 is Osceola County. Just up the street and to the west is the Polk-Lake county line.

On Orange Lake, Vista Del Lago has 925 manufactured home sites, three swimming pools, tennis courts and a million-dollar clubhouse. At the beginning of this year, Leary began developing the front 12 acres of the property as The Shoppes at Villa Largo. They had opened phase one, a two-story, 24,000-square-foot area of shops and offices in 2004. Phase two, which is the same size building but has a faux second story to match the architecture of phase one, opened in 2005. Both are fully occupied, with businesses ranging from restaurants and a camera store to a real estate office.

The new construction will be much like phase one, in that it will be a two-story building offering 24,000 square feet of business space.

The new building is designed to house 10,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor, and storage space above.

"This one will be a two-story building, 2,400 square feet of space, with retail shops below, and the upstairs designed for mini-storage," Leary said.

The second floor will allow for a future conversion to office space where tenants can access their suites from a double-loaded interior corridor, or a single-loaded exterior walkway along the front.

The Design Excellence Award cited several other factors that helped this project win the honor, noting that "a series of columns and overhangs creates a tertiary level of detail engaging pedestrians as they walk along the promenade that connects this building with the others on the site," and that "ample landscaping and water features will add to the shopping center, offering a cool space for customers to enjoy the pleasant surroundings."

"We're really happy and proud of it," Leary said. "I think our architects have done a great job. They really came up with a great design that's flexible for us. They designed it so down the road if there's a need for additional retail space, we'll have it."

Leary added that the project's appealing look also set it apart in an era when new shopping plazas are getting built regularly.

"There's a lot of cookie cutter stuff going up -- and not just in this area, all over the state -- to just get buildings up as fast as they can. You see some of these buildings and it's clear they just come in and pop up the walls and that's it," he said. "We're just adding a little bit of style and something a little bit different. It's a little bit more modern than anything done out here, with very clean lines. There's not a lot of overhangs and false balconies. A lot of that stuff is not necessary."

The building is set to begin construction in the fall along the western end of U.S. 192.

"We were hoping to break ground earlier this year, but the approval process through some of the counties is challenging, to say the least," Leary said. "Now we're going to break ground by the end of the year, probably November. We have been patient and conservative in our approach for 20 years now."

He expects filling the new offices won't be difficult.

"People are still calling us for space," he said. "We're very selective about our tenants. We really want to make sure we get the right mix."