From Todd Pokrywa, senior vice president for land-use planning and development at The Viera Co:
What’s going on with the Viera Town Center?
In Viera, we have 10,000 residential units, 10,000 jobs and 350 business entities. For every household, we’ve generated one job. We straddle Interstate 95 and we’ve reached critical mass. Viera Town Center is beginning to see growth with the first phase, a [66,600-square-foot] 116-room Fairfield Inn & Suites that will serve the U.S. Speciality Sports Association, which creates and promotes a variety of sports including softball and baseball. We’ve reached that critical milestone in Viera. The town center is the hole in the donut. It’s a downtown area envisioned for farmers' markets and arts festivals. Viera Town Center isn't in competition with The Avenue Viera open-air mall across the street, but will be a complement. The hotel, which will be pulled up to the streetscape to capture that true downtown feel, is the first phase under construction and will be completed in first-quarter 2018. We expect that urban living component to follow with a central park facility. We’re starting on the central park in early 2018.
