Publix will introduce one of its new, larger format stores to Polk County shoppers when a new 55,000-square-foot store opens in Winter Haven, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.
Orlando-based Elevation Development filed construction plans last week with Polk County for the new grocery store with a drive-thru pharmacy and separate liquor store at 890 Jersey Road. The supermarket would sit on 9.2 acres in the center of a larger, 27-acre development stretching from Havendale to north of Derby Avenue.
For years, a typical Publix prototype store averaged between 46,000 and 48,000 square feet, though the company expanded to 52,000 square feet at Loughman Crossing across from the Providence golf community in Davenport.
The larger, 55,000-square-foot prototypes allow for expanded Grab & Go sections and self-checkout areas.
Other features you might see in a larger format store, like the one that opened this summer in Tampa, include a “Pours” café and bar, upstairs and outside seating, and burrito, pizza and pasta stations. Publix opened two more of the larger stores this summer is Broward and Palm Beach counties.
In 2022, the developer applied for a Planned Development zoning that would have included 189 townhomes by Park Square Homes, two offices, a QSR and a gas station. The developer withdrew the application before it ever went to the Planning Commission but still closed on the property for $1.7 million.
Park Square Homes spokeswoman Nicole Stanton told GrowthSpotter the builder is still involved in the project and will construct 105 front-loaded townhomes. The site has High-Density Residential future land use and zoning, according to the documents filed by Hamilton Engineering.
Palm Beach Gardens-based Blackfin Partners has also received approvals for a new Publix-anchored shopping center in Haines City at Johnson Avenue and Powerline Road.
Along with a Publix, the permit says the development will support a liquor store, gas station, and “other future development and associated infrastructure.” The Publix and liquor store would have a combined 50,000 square feet, with another 9,800 square feet of adjacent inline retail.
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