Observer Updates

+ Longboat’s 7-Eleven will close next month
The Longboat Key 7-Eleven convenience store is closing next month.

7-Eleven spokesperson Margaret Chabris told The Longboat Observer the store will close at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 20.

7-Eleven officials, Chabris said, could not reach an agreement on terms for a new lease with Reed Savidge, who is also the owner of the neighboring Longboat Key Ace Hardware store.

“Both sides were too far apart on the length of a lease and the financials for a new lease,” Chabris said.
The store’s 15-year lease is set to expire June 30.

Savidge did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.

Employees at the 7-Eleven, 4032 Gulf of Mexico Drive, received a statement in March announcing the store’s possible closure in June, according to 7-Eleven Longboat Key Manager Tom Phillips.

Phillips estimates his store services 500 customers daily.

Chabris said 7-Eleven will be looking for a favorable location with an attractive rental rate to restore its store on the island.

“Longboat Key continues to be a desirable location for 7-Eleven, and we will do what we can to continue to service our customers there,” Chabris said.

+ Short-term, sand-solution project receives extension
The town of Longboat Key’s emergency sand project near the Broadway beach access is complete.

The Department of Environmental Protection agreed to allow the town to continue placing up to 7,500 cubic yards of sand in the area 15 days past the start of sea-turtle nesting season.

The extension helped the town to place as much sand as possible on the dry beach in the area.

The project, which brought more than 450 dump-truck loads of beach-quality sand to the island from a sand pit in Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, originally had to be complete by May 1, before sea-turtle nesting season began.

The sand is being placed at the beach access until the town can start its beach-renourishment project in November 2011.

Town Manager Bruce St. Denis says the town hopes some of the sand being placed on the dry beach will also migrate north and help to restore a portion of the beach closer to North Shore Road.

The town, however, is also seeking approval to restore that entire eroded shoreline with approximately 200,000 cubic yards of sand and will find out soon if the state will approve the $5 million project.