Delve into 12: Publix plans

Here’s what Publix representatives say they’re cooking up for residents by Christmas 2012: a rebuilt 49,533-square-foot Avenue of the Flowers shopping center. The bakery will be sweeter, and the meat selection will be a cut above — similar to what you would find at a butcher shop. The new store will offer enhanced selections of pre-made foods, wine and cheese, international foods and organic fruits and vegetables. Publix officials have said that the concept will draw customers who will linger at the shopping center to take advantage of indoor and outdoor seating and a town center-like shopping center with redeveloped retail space along with a new CVS.

“This is truly going to be a unique store and a special store,” Publix agent Michael Leeds, of RMC Development Services, told the Longboat Key Planning & Zoning Board Dec. 13.

The plan is likely to move forward, but it isn’t in the bag yet.

The P&Z Board recommended the site plan and three outline development plans (ODPs) for the property owned by the Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc. and two adjacent properties that Publix is under contract to purchase. The three ODPS and site plan are on the agenda for the Jan. 9, 2012 Longboat Key Town Commission regular meeting.

For the most part, residents have embraced Publix plans, which were first outlined in detail in July, when the chain filed a preliminary application with the chain. Rumors have been circulating about the company’s plans for its aging Longboat Key store since 2008, when it purchased the Avenue of the Flowers shopping center. But some details of the plans have raised concerns.

Representatives of the Bay Isles Master Association feel that the proposed vegetation buffer along Bay Isles Road is insufficient and have hired attorney Michael Furen as their representation as the project moves forward.

“Our client has some very serious concerns about the visual impact the project will have,” Furen told the P&Z Board. “While we are in support of the redevelopment, we have the concern that it would not be adequate in shielding views.”

P&Z Board members have also voiced concerns, especially about the traffic plan and vegetation, which the board forwarded in its comments to the commission.

Publix proposes closing its existing store in April, tearing it down in May and opening the new store in December.

But for the eight months in between, residents will find themselves without a grocery store on the island for the first time in more than half a century. (CVS will remain open during the construction of its new store and will likely carry an enhanced grocery selection during the Publix construction. Harry’s Corner Store, 5600 Gulf of Mexico Drive, and the soon-to-be-open Quik-n-Easy, 4032 Gulf of Mexico Drive, also carry grocery items.)

Publix officials have expressed confidence that their plan can move forward within the planned timeline.

“The last thing Publix wants is to not be opened for the holidays,” a representative said at the Nov. 19 Federation of Longboat Key Condominium Association meeting.

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