Bank, cafe could replace Winter Park Borders

A drive-through coffee shop and a new bank are looking to set up shop in the Winter Park Village, replacing the Borders bookstore that closed in August.

The big change to the northwest corner of the Winter Park Village was approved unanimously by the Planning and Zoning Committee and will be up for vote at the City Commission meeting on March 26.

If it goes through, it would change the shape of the only empty big box store in the Village, Winter Park Chamber of Commerce President Patrick Chapin said.

“I think you constantly have to look into reinventing yourself,” Chapin said about shopping centers dealing with vacancies, particularly large stores. “That space over there is something that could sit vacant for many years. It seems unlikely somebody could come in and use it as it is. So many of these big box stores are failing and they’re going to have to get creative with the space.”

Winter Park Mayor Ken Bradley said that he was interested in seeing new tenants in the space, even in the wake of the death of the bookstore.

“I’m excited about it,” he said. “I hated personally to see Borders leave, but I think it’ll be a great addition to the Village. It fits the Village concept. I’m still looking over it, but it seems like it’ll be a great fit.”

Weathering the storm

Though the former Borders location has remained empty for nine months, Winter Park Commissioner Steven Leary said it’s more a sign of a struggling business model than harbinger of Winter Park’s economy.

“The Village is pretty healthy overall but I think [book selling] was a business model that was the first to get seriously challenged by the Internet by Amazon,” Leary said. “The big booksellers are struggling to figure out the anti-Amazon strategy.”

He said that Winter Park has weathered the retail downturn much better than most cities.

“I think from a regional perspective we’re probably in the best shape of anybody with regards to vacancies,” Leary said. “Our core business district is under 3 percent (vacancy rate), which is fantastic compared to our neighbors.”

Minimal impact

According to plans drafted by Planning Director Jeff Briggs, the proposed new businesses, which have yet to be officially revealed, would take up about the same footprint as the 25,000-square-foot Borders store. But they would also have less internal square feet, totaling 13,874 square feet, and giving a net gain of 44 required spaces compared to the Borders.

Though the coffee restaurant hasn’t been named, the proposed drive-through indicates that it could be a Starbucks. The Starbucks at 3011 E. Colonial Drive was used by Avcon Engineering to study traffic patterns.

Those two potential new tenants are contingent on the plans being approved by the Commission at the March 26 meeting and a subsequent vote. The vote would grant conditional-use approval to change the way the current property is used, paving the way for the new development.

Chapin said that he looks forward to some new faces in the old space.

“I don’t know of too many people who are for big empty eyesores,” he said.