Publix Comments. . .

A while back I posted on a neighborhood friendly Publix I visited in Fort Myers and how well it fit in to the community.  You can read that post by clicking here.

I live close to where, hopefully,  a new Publix will be built on the site of the failed Hammon Park on Dixie Hwy. I welcome the addition as it will go a long way to help clean up the neighborhood and increase the desirability of  living here.

Let’s take a look at the site:

View from 2nd St.

Aerial View (click on image to enlarge)

Take a good look at the aerial view.  There are people saying that the Publix is going to be too close to a single family residential neighborhood.  I wonder if they really know the make up of this neighborhood?

Directly across from the site is a private school and  parking lot.  5 out of 6 of the structures to the north of the school are multi-unit rental properties.  Right across 3rd St. is another multi-unit rental.  Looking at the aerial view or walking the neighborhood you can see that there are at least 8 large  multifamily properties and many smaller multifamily units in the immediate vicinity.

The single family units that are there languish from the same issues that many of our residential neighborhoods do; most are rented and far too many suffer from neglect and lack of maintenance.

Those who beat the drum of  “protecting single family residential neighborhoods” are wrong in this case.  In essence they are holding back the revitalization of this and the adjacent areas.  The addition of a Publix like the one in Fort Myers would have an immediate and positive impact.

Would you rather have this across the street?  N. J St. Sidewalk at Hammon Park.

Or this?  Sidewalk bordering residential neighborhood at Fort Myers Publix.

Access for customers and deliveries to the facility will utilize 2nd and 3rd streets and I believe that the traffic impact will be minimal.  Also using an enclosed receiving area like the one at the Fort Myers location will prevent having to look at the unsightly “backside” of the supermarket and greatly reduce any noise impact on the area.

If we want a return to owner occupied single family neighborhoods we need to make them attractive to buy and live in.  I shop at the local stores nearby and like that I can walk or ride my bike to them.  But they do not have all the items I need on a day-to-day basis,  nor are their prices as low as a major chain store like Publix.

I would suggest that the people who are against this project actually take a walk around my neighborhood and ask the residents their feelings.

After all it’s about what the citizens of a neighborhood feel is best for them, isn’t it?

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