A site layout of the 18-acre retail center shows a potential 11 buildings comprising Winter Haven Town Center. The largest is nearly 25,000 square feet, followed by two buildings slightly smaller.

WINTER HAVEN — An Orlando-area real estate company is moving forward with plans to develop an 18-acre retail center just west of the Chain O' Lakes Complex in Winter Haven.

V3 Capital Group LLC plans a mixed-use development to include restaurants, retail and possibly a hotel west of U.S. 17, south of Avenue R Southwest and north of the Lake Lulu/Lake Shipp canal.

The company presented preliminary plans to the city's development review committee on Sept. 18 mostly to address technical aspects, said Sean Byers, Winter Haven's planning manager.

“They need to further refine the site plan, get it to a state for a formal site plan review,” he said. “They're actively working on signing people up (to lease space).”

The property is owned by Vigoro Acquisition Corp. of Alabama, and once was the site of a fertilizer processing facility. As such, the property is designated a brownfield site by the Environmental Protection Agency, meaning that development may be complicated by the presence, or potential presence, of some type of pollutant, hazardous substance or contaminant.

The EPA designation makes the site eligible for a government grant to assist in making sure the property can safely be developed, Byers said.

Trey Vick, CEO of VC Capital Group, did not return messages seeking comment for this article.

Byers said it's now up to Vick to respond to the city's direction for moving forward on construction. One area of concern is the high volume of traffic at the site, which is near the intersection of U.S. 17 and Cypress Gardens Boulevard.

Byers said the developer will need to work with state transportation officials to work on a plan that will address those traffic concerns. Carter Engineering of Winter Haven is listed as the project's engineer.

The project has been on the books since 2009, but it began to crystallize more fully when V3 Capital Group announced plans for the retail center in October 2018. An article in the Orlando Business Journal quoted Vick indicating a construction start of late 2019.

A site layout shows a potential 11 buildings comprising Winter Haven Town Center. The largest is nearly 25,000 square feet, followed by two buildings slightly smaller.

Byers said VC Capital Group so far has been reticent to name any potential tenants other than tossing out examples of businesses like HomeGoods or T.J. Maxx.

“We were trying to get them to commit but they wouldn't,” he said.

Eric Pera can be reached at eric.pera@theledger.com or 863-802-7528.