Plans for a Publix boost onetime `ghost town'A proposed Publix on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard would provide needed services for new residents. Others hope it would serve as a catalyst for future commercial development.
BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
If a grocery store is what it takes to make a neighborhood complete, then Miami's Omni area is about to arrive.
Miami's Urban Development Review Board reviewed plans last week for a proposed Publix at 1776 Biscayne Blvd. -- a site that has stood vacant for years. Several projects failed to materialize, including a high-rise condo during the real estate boom and a plan for a Miami Chinatown in the 1990s.
Now, Fort Lauderdale Developer Stiles Corp.'s plans call for an urban Publix with two floors of parking above and other small retail shops on the site. The goal is to break ground in November with an opening a year later.
``It used to be a ghost town,'' said Franky Arriola, 29, who moved into a Biscayne Boulevard condo in 2007. ``It's getting better day by day.''
Shortly after Arriola moved in, he witnessed a stabbing victim carried off the basketball court at Margaret Pace Park. Now he plays basketball there regularly and walks his dogs along Biscayne.
``Now, there's a pulse,'' Arriola said. ``It shows that there are signs of life if Publix is willing to invest. I can't wait for other things to be built.''
Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, said the new Publix is ``a wonderful signal to the rest of the businesses in the area that we've really turned the corner. This is a good anchor for the area. It has the potential to be a catalytic thing.''
A recent DDA study shows there are a lot more potential customers in the area. Some 74 percent of the 22,079 urban condominium units built since 2003 are occupied. They stretch from the Brickell district south of downtown Miami north to State Road 112.
Developer Terry Stiles said the proposed retailer has done its homework. ``These guys don't move unless the demographics are right,'' he said. ``They are good at hitting the curve. We've got Class A retailers confident that these buildings are filling up and the whole area is taking on a different complexion.''
Publix had been searching for several years for a new location in the Biscayne Boulevard corridor north of downtown and south of 36th Street. The proposed Omni Publix would fill a void for the supermarket chain between its Baypoint store at 4870 Biscayne Blvd. and its three Brickell Avenue stores.
Publix spokeswoman Kim Jaeger declined to discuss any potential location, citing the retailer's policy of not commenting about proposed developments. ``We continue looking to grow our business in communities where it makes good business sense,'' she said.
