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C E N T E R R E V I E W 114 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • MAY 2015 Randall Shearin Gainesville's ambitious new Celebration Pointe is on time, on track, and on to something. Celebration Pointe Moving Forward G ainesville, Florida, keeps finding new reasons to celebrate as its most innovative and ambitious new mixed-use development continues to check off exciting milestones on its way to a planned fall 2016 grand open- ing. The project is Celebration Pointe, a nationally lauded, $200 million 225-acre regional development located in north Florida along the high-traffic Interstate 75 corridor. According to Celebration Pointe part- ner Ralph Conti, the best news for fu- ture shoppers, guests, residents and of- fice workers is that work on the public infrastructure improvement phase of the project is on schedule, and vertical con- struction is set to begin in mid-summer. "In addition to aggressively moving for- ward with site preparation, we are making excellent progress on the construction of the new multi-lane bridge that will span I-75," reports Conti. "The bridge will not only be another major gateway for Cel- ebration Pointe, but it will also serve as a defining design element for the entire region. That bridge is a new vehicular and pe- destrian connector that will stretch across I-75, an appropriately dramatic symbol for a project that is designed with connec- tivity, accessibility, visibility and regional impact in mind. Celebration Pointe will be the first transit-oriented development in the state of Florida, and the Celebration Pointe development team has worked closely with the Alachua County Com- mission and the Florida Department of Transportation to facilitate the develop- ment of several new mass transit stops within and directly adjacent to the project. Dedicated transit lines will provide direct connections between Celebration Pointe and locations such as the University of Florida, UF Health Shands Hospital and downtown Gainesville. Located at the intersection of I-75 and Archer Road, Celebration Pointe's out- standing visibility to Interstate 75 is unlike that of any other shopping destination in the region. With more than a half mile of interstate frontage, the 1 million-square- foot project is front and center for the close to 100,000 vehicles that pass the site Celebration Pointe will be anchored by Bass Pro Shops and a state-of-the-art 10-screen Regal Cinemas luxury theatre. In addition, the development will feature approximately 400,000-square-feet of entertainment, specialty retail and restaurants. A new, multi-lane bridge will span Interstate 75 into the site, creating a symbol for Celebration Pointe, which will be the first transit-oriented development in the state of Florida.