A new owner, Woolbright Development, is trying to

A new owner, Woolbright Development, is trying to fill empty retail spaces and overcome persistent problems at the Abacoa Town Center in Jupiter, Florida. About a third of the storefronts in the 91,400 sq. ft. town center stood empty in mid-October, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Woolbright, which purchased the center for a reported $12 million in August, is hoping to turn it around. Constructed around 2000, the town center was envisioned as the focus of Abacoa, a 2,055-acre mixed-use community that currently has about 4,000 housing units. Eventually Abacoa will have a total of 6,100 homes, ranging from efficiency apartments to large detached houses. Most likely because of a variety of factors — the center was developed before much of the housing had been built; it was not visible from a major road; and its walkways featured arcades that were awkward for retailing — Abacoa’s center failed to catch hold. Some of the restaurants and bars have attracted a rowdy clientele, angering nearby residents, who have complained about loud music, drunkenness, and late-night fights. A 16-screen movie theater closed in 2006 after a multiplex opened at a competing open-air center, Downtown at the Gardens, in Palm Beach Gardens. “Woolbright is known for turning around retail centers plagued by shuttered storefronts and neglected public areas,” the newspaper website TCPalm reported. Said Jupiter Town Manager Andy Lukasik: “Once you get the right mix, I think the success will be realized.” Abacoa was begun in the mid-1990s when the John D. and Catherine T. Mac-Arthur Foundation and Cypress Realty of Texas formed Abacoa Development Co. to serve as master developer of the site, adjacent to Florida Atlantic University. Woolbright is the town center’s third owner in seven years. Continuing development in the area is expected to help the center.