Check out what's coming soon to UTC

The 2025 version of the multiple University Town Center districts in east Manatee and north Sarasota counties, with its hundreds of stores and dozens of restaurants — in addition to its thousands of employees — has a rather simple, yet significant, origin story. 

It’s a tale wrapped in a fish restaurant, with a secondary role played by a discount department store. 

The history is relevant today as the company behind UTC, University Park-based Benderson Development, looks at how it will build out some 75 acres on the east side of the property on the Sarasota County side, alongside Interstate 75. Future projects in and around there include the first-ever residential component of UTC; potentially up to three hotels; an entertainment and music district; and a large swath of new office space. 

“As a company proudly headquartered here, Benderson is deeply committed to the growth and long-term success of the Sarasota-Manatee region and the entire state of Florida,” says Benderson Executive Director of leasing Mark Chait.

In a recent presentation on the past, present and future of UTC, hosted by Lambda Alpha International, a land economics professional society with a new Sarasota-Bradenton chapter, Chait detailed Benderson’s counterintuitive history, and strategy, in the area. Chait says the Shoppes at University Center, on the Manatee County side of UTC, is the beginning of the entire project. 

That center today is thriving, from a Nordstrom Rack on one side to a Trader Joe’s in the middle to BJs Wholesale Club on the other side. Weekend parking spots can be tough to find. 

But in 1998, when it was the Sarasota Outlet Center, it was anything but thriving. 

Instead, says Chait, 80% of the stores were vacant and the plaza was physically dilapidated. The company’s founder, Nate Benderson, says Chait, “knew great real estate” and the company, then based in Buffalo, bought the center from a Canadian bank. The company paid $6 million for the property. “When I first saw it, I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we own this,’” Chait quips, “but we really saw what it (could be).”

Image courtesy of Benderson Development

That year, Chait points out, Lakewood Ranch was in its infancy. Cows roamed the south side of University where SuperTarget and the Mall at UTC now sit. 

“We started doing deals, and then we started doing something most developers wouldn’t do,” says Chait. “We did a full physical remodel without many tenants. We knew it looked terrible. We knew something had to be done, and we invested. We remodeled the whole thing, parking lot, landscaping.”

The first tenant? Bonefish Grill. “Back then, Bonefish was a unique concept … and that kind of put a label on it that this was a great spot,” he says. 

Next up, Marshalls. The retailer, which sells everything from perfume to pet food, was another tipping point for the center, and Benderson. Marshalls was a signal to others in retail real estate, says Chait, that the center was worth checking out. “We’re not just filling space as a placeholder,” says Chait, echoing the message at the time to the entire company from Nate and Randy Benderson, the founder’s son and current top executive. “We’re building something. We’re creating something.”

East meets west

There remains more to create at UTC. The list includes:

Image courtesy of Benderson Development 

• On the south side of the property, visible off Interstate 75, Benderson plans to add to the entertainment mix, Chait says. That’s near PopStroke, the elevated mini-golf concept backed by Tiger Woods. “We have PopStroke, the aquarium will be opening, but you don’t have a concentration of music venues, a concentration of restaurants focused in that area,” Chait says. “So we’re developing it. We go by the old adage, if a carpenter measures twice and cuts once, well, we’ll site plan about 100 times and build it once, because really, you only have one chance to build it, right? So I can’t tell you how many iterations we’ve gone through, but we’re committed to this being the absolute best facility.”
• Three more hotels are potentially coming to UTC, Chait says. One will likely be on the west side, near the Homewood Suites (which is doing so well it expanded with more rooms, he adds). One hotel will be a boutique brand, he says, while one will be a national flag and another, he hopes, a conference-based lodging property. “There’s a real need for more hotel rooms, conference space and amenities,” says Chait, alluding to the growth in sports tourism in the Sarasota-Manatee market. (A Benderson spokesperson says final plans, and the total number of hotels, isn’t confirmed yet.) 
• A residential component, including rental units, is planned for the East District at UTC. The spokesperson says details are not confirmed for that project, either. 
• There are 10 or so new restaurant and retail tenants coming to UTC in the near future. Two coming soon, Olivia and On Swann, are from noted Tampa area entrepreneur and James Beard-nominated chef Chris Ponte. Both of those will be on Cattlemen Road, opposite Ford’s Garage. Nearby, also coming soon is a second area location for Blu Kouzina, joining the first one on St. Armands Circle, and Bulla (pronounced boo-yah) Gastrobar. The latter concept, revolving around Spanish food and tapas, started in Coral Gables and now has nine locations, including one in Tampa. A little further down on Cattlemen is a new location for Florence & the Spice Boys, a Middle Eastern concept that started as a food truck and then opened its first brick-and-mortar spot in the Landings in Sarasota, also owned by Benderson. 

Quality over quantity 

Chait, in his presentation, chatted about Benderson’s strategy in recruiting and retaining tenants. With more than 1,000 properties covering 55 million square feet spread through 40 states, the company is one of the largest retail landlords in the country.

“People don’t (always) believe this, but it is true, we spend as much time in our leasing meetings discussing the quality of the tenant, the quality of their operation, what their build out is going to look like, what their business operation will be, as much as we do the rent,” Chait says. “And we do care about rent. We’re capitalists. We want to make money, but we really do focus on that quality.”