Designer's Dream

To gauge the importance and relevance of the International Design Center opening this season in Estero, consider the following: Juan Montoya, a perennial member of Architectural Digest's Top 100 Designers, has been chosen to create the center's public spaces; two national shelter magazines-Architectural Digest and Veranda-attended the 2004 groundbreaking; it's the first center to open within the last 20 years; and there are just 17 others in the country (the closest being the Design Center of the Americas in Dania Beach, near Miami).

The interior design industry equivalent of Bal Harbour Shops or Rodeo Drive, the International Design Center is destined to become an obligatory part of the home building or decorating process, a veritable Candyland of high design and home fashion that's expected to attract designers, homeowners and architects from a 250-mile radius.

Miromar Development Corp. president Margaret Miller promises you can expect everything from trendy tile and couture cabinetry to fabulous fabrics and furniture from international companies and local boutique shops-all available to the public and the trade. Scheduled to open in November, the center will offer 250,000 square feet of home furnishings, furniture, fabrics, art, antiques, wall coverings, marble, tile, lighting, and kitchen and bathroom fixtures. McGuire, Ann Saks, Walker Zanger, Pierre Deux, Stickley, Clive Christian, Lee Jofa, Kravit and Kallista comprise a list that now numbers about 75 and also features local favorites such as Agostino's, Azar Gallery and Gallery on Fifth.

Part of the Miromar family that includes the upscale Miromar Outlets and Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club, the center was Miller's idea-one inspired, she says, by the need for a one-stop location to furnish her budding list of Southwest Florida projects. "I came to this market trying to find furnishings for various properties and couldn't find all the resources I needed under one roof," she recalls.

Through her research, Miller found that such a facility was a necessity in the booming Southwest Florida market. Home decorating sales grew by 55 percent and 92 percent between 1996 and 2001 in Lee and Collier counties, respectively. And three of the region's largest cities (Naples, Sarasota and Fort Myers) are ranked among the richest communities in the country. Bolstered by an exploding population, the area's thriving design trade has the potential to reach five million people in a 17-county region where home furnishing sales are closing in on the $6 billion mark.

Miller anticipates the center will draw homeowners and designers from as far away as Orlando and Tampa and will eliminate the four-hour round-trip drive to Dania's DCOTA for Southwest Floridians.

The three-story International Design Center will have glass curtain walls that provide unobstructed views into each showroom, and three atriums and balconies on each level cloaked in natural stone, bronzed ironwork and textiles. There are even valet and air-conditioned parking and a full-service gourmet café and coffee shop near the main three-story, sky-lit lobby atrium.

The first floor is open to the public, offering the opportunity to browse for ideas and up-market merchandise (mainly kitchens, baths, tile and building products). The top two floors (furniture, flooring, fabrics and wall coverings) are devoted to interior designers and architects and their clients, although on-call interior designers will be available to accompany others to restricted showrooms.

Miller says the center also will host a number of design-related programs, speakers and events to entertain, educate and inspire the design community.

Located on a 38-acre campus at I-75 and Corkscrew Road, the neoclassical International Design Center will ultimately expand to 400,000 square feet, welcoming visitors with a porte-cochere and a reflecting pool flanked by royal palms. A business-class hotel, office building and lakes are also planned for the site.

"It's going to be fabulous to have this resource so close to home," says Dorothy Rhodes, a designer with Accessories Etc. in Bonita Springs. "I won't have to drive to Miami just to get fabric and wall covering samples. I can take my clients there and they can see the actual product."