Carishoca means Caribbean Showcase. The developing company is a subsidiary of Coral Springs-based Amera Corp. whose founder and CEO, George Rahael, is from Trinidad. Raphael says he has held discussion with the counsels general of several Caribbean Island nations in efforts to attract them to consolidate their properties, which are currently scattered throughout Florida, in the village. Carishoca will include an office building and trade exhibition hall.

Plans for the complex also call for a 250- to 300-room hotel along with Caribbean-style restaurants and entertainment facilities. The village is adjacent to the $50-million Broward County regional park now under construction. Its architecture and ambiance are designed to reflect the esthetics and vitality of Caribbean countries in an area now marked by a long-boarded up former Kmart.

Amera's South Florida portfolio encompasses more than 700,000 sf of completed projects. It is the master developer for Coral Springs' new downtown and, in all, has projects totaling almost five million sf committed for development. Among them is a $95-million mixed-use complex on Palmetto Park Road in Downtown Boca Raton.