Destin Commons draws millions

More than 11 million people, more than the populations of Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee combined, visited Destin Commons in 2006 — and that number might be a little low.

Traffic count statistics from the 2006 calendar year show an estimated 11,282,242 visits to the shopping center at U.S. 98 and Danny Wuerffel Way, up more than 2 million from 2005. Destin Commons opened with great fanfare in November 2003.

Darin Grigg, general manager of Destin Commons, said the shopping center has traffic counters at each entrance. Every time a car rolls over a cable, that car is recorded and its passengers are counted in the center’s visitors statistical database. The exact number of passengers in a vehicle is not known, but statistical data from the International Council of Shopping Centers is used to arrive at a passenger count.

“It’s a pretty smart tool,” Grigg said. “You can download the statistics to your computer and we can monitor them by the hour or by the minute.” Grigg said that during fall and winter, they figure 2.5 visitors in each car. From March to July, they bump it to 3.5 visitors per car. During the busier summer months, the estimate of 3.5 visitors per car is probably an underestimate, Grigg said.

“We are a family tourist area and the people that are coming onto the property are not coming in a convertible by themselves, they’re coming in a van with seven people. The numbers we use are pretty conservative,” he said.

The increased number of visitors shopping, dining and finding entertainment at Destin Commons reinforces recent decisions to grow and expand, Grigg said. “What this truly does is solidify our decision to progress and grow the property,” he said. “It has always been in our master plan to expand but it’s been so wildly successful that it allows us to grow further and faster than we’d planned. But the success isn’t just the number of people coming in, it’s what they’re doing while they’re here. When you look at the sales at the stores, it confirms our decision to grow.”

Construction has begun on a five-level parking garage and office building that will hold more than 900 parking spaces and more than 90,000 square feet of office space. It’s set to open later this year, and Grigg said the construction of more restaurant and retail space at the Commons is imminent.

Shane Moody, president and CEO of the Destin Chamber of Commerce, said the impact of Destin Commons on other local businesses cannot be underestimated.

“One of the great benefits of 11 million visitors is that Destin becomes a showcase for those visitors,” he said. “While the Commons draws them, visitors also see all of the other great amenities the Destin region has to offer, and that brings people back again and again. It affects more than just the city limits, it reaches much further and deeper than that.”

The potential impact that similar shopping centers have had on their respective economies is well-documented and substantial. According to statistics from the International Council of Shopping Centers, in 2005, shopping centers nationwide did a whopping $2.12 trillion in business and generated $114.4 million in sales tax revenues and employed more than 12 million people.

Moody said the business generated by the Commons spills-over to the rest of the area’s economy. “11 million visitors obviously have a major economic impact. Those visitors spend money, which pays salaries and generate tax dollars, which turn over five or six times within the community,” he said. “That’s the kind of impact you only see in larger cities and communities. It (Destin Commons) is a big-city attraction in a great, small community.”

The anchor stores at Destin Commons are Belk and Bass Pro Shops. In addition to a 14-screen Rave Motion Pictures theater, the center has restaurants, upscale men’s and women’s clothing stores, and numerous other high-end retailers.

Destin Commons is a partnership of Legendary Inc., based in Destin, and Turnberry Associates, based in the South Florida community of Aventura, near Miami.

Published on Friday, January 12, 2007