An opportunity to solidify its dominance and establish another foothold in an increasingly competitive and residentially dense market drove Publix Super Markets to open its first store in the emerging Omni area of downtown Miami.Construction is now under way on the 49,200-square-foot market at Northeast 17th Street and Biscayne Boulevard, one block north of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp. is building the three-story, urban-format Publix, which features two floors of parking atop the supermarket.
The store is slated to open early next year.
Plans call for a café, including a walk-up window, and a pharmacy. There will also be 8,000 square feet of ancillary retail space as part of the Publix-anchored 18Biscayne shopping center on the 1.91-acre site, which was originally approved for a condo tower.
“The store will be a traditional Publix with a healthy selection of natural and organic, as well as Hispanic, products,” said Kim Jaeger, media and community relations manager for Publix.
Despite the significant downtown population growth in the past five years, Publix is the first supermarket to plant its flag in this area. Whole Foods Market has signed a lease to open at Metropolitan Miami, but construction on the ground-floor parking garage that will be underneath the store has yet to begin.
Publix’s move comes as new competitors, including Wal-Mart’s Neighborhood Market, are streaming into the market, and Target, which has a store just north of the downtown area, has added a grocery to its offerings.
Very nice place.Despite the significant downtown population growth in the past five years, Publix is the first supermarket to plant its flag in this area.
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