Despite a sluggish Central Florida economy, the

Despite a sluggish Central Florida economy, the 617-acre Cagan Crossings TND, four miles west of Walt Disney World, is moving ahead with plans to break ground in September for its 54,000 sq. ft. town center. Development vice president Sandra Cagan told New Urban News that the Crossings has recently added a sports bar to the growing list of retail and service businesses which will occupy the ground floor in each of four commercial buildings that will be topped by two stories of rental apartments. The town center’s architect, Robert Herrmann of Naples, FL, estimates the cost of those buildings to be 12 to 15 percent higher than that of comparable single-use structures, mainly due to the need to conform to codes governing both residential and commercial components. Sandra Cagan views the added cost as the price of providing amenities that will attract residential tenants to the Crossings’ suburban location — and as a integral element of her and Jeff Cagan’s vision for Cagan Crossings. “We really bought into the concept of a traditional, pedestrian-oriented neighborhood,” she said, “And the town center goes hand-in-hand with that concept.”