- March 28, 2024
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Greenbrook residents Wendy and Gary Harvey purchased bicycles so they could ride to their new Lakewood Ranch business, Sign 4R Times, at the corner of Lorraine Road and State Road 70.
Once they get there each day, they will have plenty of other options as well.
The once desolate intersection has become a business hub as major developments, such as Del Webb and Lakewood National, spring up nearby.
Their business, Signs 4R Times, is just one of seven in The Shoppes at Lorraine Corners plaza, at the intersection’s southeast corner. All those businesses have opened since Jan. 1. They also are the
easternmost businesses, currently, in Lakewood Ranch.
The landscape at that intersection — Lakewood Ranch’s geographic center — continues to change toward its final, planned configuration. Development on the last remaining pieces, at the northeastern corner of Lorraine and S.R. 70 started July 28 with a groundbreaking by Bayside Pet Resort and Spa. Once open in about a year, the resort will offer doggie day care, boarding, grooming and other services.
Big Jim Self Storage closed on another outparcel there July 27 and is expected to start construction in the coming weeks.
Kirk Boylston, president of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch subsidiary Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty, said the land between Lorraine Road and Post Boulevard and 59th Avenue and S.R. 70 was divided into seven parcels. If the contract currently in progress with a restaurant is finalized, only two of the parcels (two and three acres, respectively) would remain.
“Then we’ll have everything sold there,” he said.
Publix purchased the largest piece of the land in that area and will be responsible for developing its store and leasing to in-line tenants at that plaza.
Boylston said another 12-acre parcel north of the planned Publix is under contract with an apartment developer.
Land at the other corners of the intersection already is developed.
It all has created a hub of interest for those living nearby.
“It’s nice to be able to walk or cycle to these places,” Wendy Harvey said. “Everyone says what a great position we are in here. It’s a master plan.”
Besides attracting those in close proximity, Wendy Harvey said the addition of more businesses at the corner will attract customers from farther away as well.
Country Meadows resident Steve Carton said having a variety of services and products at the intersection will be a plus for anyone living in the area.
“We need another Publix, that’s for sure,” he said. “There’s so many people coming. There’s new homes everywhere.”
Carolyn Broderick, who lives east of the plaza, and owns Jersey Roots salon there as well, agreed.
She said it’s sad to see the land developed, but having more services for East County residents will be a blessing. Most of her salon business has come from the Myakka and Panther Ridge areas, and she believes having more business options will bring in customers from all directions.
“As the developments take off, that’s when we’ll see (more customers),” she said.
East of the site, Lennar is constructing the 1,999-home Lakewood National Golf and Country Club and Bridgewater East projects. DiVosta, a subsidiary of Pulte Group, is developing its 1,300-home, age-restricted Del Webb community.
The opening of the Fort Hamer Bridge, to the northwest, on Aug. 26, and the opening of an extension of Lorraine Road south to Fruitville Road on Sept. 6, also should increase opportunities for businesses at the intersection.
“Lennar is selling a lot of homes. The Del Webb community is selling a lot of homes,” Boylston said. “Just those two projects are 3,200 home sites. So, there’s a lot more activity and that will increase exponentially in the next five years as we push into the northeast section. This will be a key spot.”
Manatee County has planned for Lorraine Road between S.R. 70 to S.R. 64 to be four lanes, but no funding for construction or widening is available. The Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization does not show the improvement to be needed before 2040.
Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said widening Lorraine Road in that area is not in the county’s five-year capital improvement program, is not a transportation priority and likely will not be built “anytime soon.”
“There’s a lot of right of way that would have to be purchased before the county could build that road,” Baugh said. “That’s the biggest issue I see.”
The Florida Department of Transportation District One is conducting a project development and environmental study to widen the 6.1-mile segment of S.R. 70 from Lorraine to County Road 675 to four lanes. The project’s design phase is being done concurrently with the study and is expected to be finished in 2020.
Baugh, who serves as vice chairman of the Sarasota Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, said moving the project toward construction is one of her priorities.
“We’re not this little hometown anymore,” Baugh said. “We get a lot of traffic locally, and we get a lot a traffic from across the state.”