The project, being developed by Harb's Phoenicia Development LLC company, would have the second largest amount of shopping center space in Lake County, next to the 1.3-million-sf, $250-million, 405-acre Mall at Millenia that opened Oct. 18, 2002, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.

Also expected to break ground this year is St. Petersburg-based Sembler Co.'s 1.1-million-sf, $100-million, 175-acre Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves retail center, seven miles west of Downtown Orlando and about 18 miles from the Plaza Collina project, as GlobeSt.com also reported last week.

In getting the county's blessing on the project, Phoenicia agreed to pay $200,000 to help widen State Road 50 to six lanes from four lanes that currently run in front of the project's site, county staffers confirm.

Plaza Collina's initial phase calls for the development of the first 950,000 sf of shopping center space and about 80,000 sf of restaurant space. The second phase envisions about 200 townhomes. The third and final phase, to be built between 2008 and 2010, would include the development of an additional 250,000-sf of mixed-use space, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.

The development of Plaza Collina, Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves and the planned 1,957-acre, estimated one-million-sf Town Center at Horizon West by Orlando-based Miller, Sellen, Connor & Walsh Inc. will give the west Orlando sector a total 3.3 million sf of new retail product within a 25-mile radius over the next three years, according to GlobeSt.com research. Several area retail consultants contend the area will be over-built but John M. Crossman, a senior vice president of retail investments in the Orlando office of Trammell Crow Co., thinks not. "The west side of Orlando is well-positioned for growth since it has access to Downtown, Disney, room to grow, the Beltway, the East-West Expressway, the Florida Turnpike and is easier to get to the airport," Crossman tells GlobeSt.com.