Publix redeveloping Longboat's Avenue of the Flowers

After three years of speculation, Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc. revealed plans for the aging and mostly empty Avenue of the Flowers plaza on Longboat Key. Publix submitted a preliminary application to the Longboat Key Planning, Zoning and Building Department.

The plans, detailed in a Bay Isles outline development plan amendment and a site plan review, call for tearing down the center. In its place, at 525 Bay Isles Parkway, Publix wants to develop a 49,533-square-foot Publix grocery store that will be connected to an 11,700-square-foot retail plaza with 360 nearby parking spaces. The plan also calls for a 14,528-square-foot CVS Pharmacy with 59 parking spaces and a stand-alone, 4,000-square-foot office/retail building in the northeastern corner of the property with another 24 parking spaces.

The rest of the 9.7-acre plaza will include walking trails, brick pavers, bicycle racks, a gazebo and more landscaping and trees.