News

By Tim Pallesen

Trader Joe’s wants to compete with Fresh Market in a burst of new commercial activity at the corner of Linton Boulevard and South Federal Highway.
Delray Place, a proposed shopping center at the southeast corner, is seeking city approval with Trader Joe’s as its marquee tenant.
Fresh Market is under construction in the existing Harbor Plaza shopping center on the northeast corner.
LA Fitness is replacing Regal 18 Cinema on the northwest corner. Dick’s Sporting Goods is rumored to be the second major tenant at Delray Place.
Restaurants such as Bonefish Grill, Pei Wei and Chic-fil-A also are jockeying for position at the intersection where, unlike Atlantic Avenue, the national chains are welcomed as tenants.
“Delray Place will be very upscale — the start of a renaissance on South Federal Highway,” said Kelli Freeman, president of the Tropic Isle Civic Association, where she says most residents are excited to have both Trader Joe’s and Fresh Market as competing specialty grocers nearby.
Trader Joe’s nearly backed out when 13 Tropic Isle families who live adjacent to the shopping center fought the grocer’s request to have its delivery trucks arrive as early as 5 a.m. and as late as 10 p.m.
“Our specialty grocer says they will walk away if they can’t get the hours they want,” Delray Beach developer Joe Carosella told the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board on March 14.
Neighbors and city staff urged that deliveries be restricted to between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
“Big tractor trailers are going to come roaring in spewing stuff all over,” neighbors’ attorney Ron Kolins argued during a heated six-hour hearing. “Anything earlier than 7 a.m. is going to disrupt my clients’ quality of life.”
The two sides struck a compromise when Carosella phoned Trader Joe’s late in the meeting. “I called my specialty grocer and he agreed to from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” he reported to board members, who accepted the compromise.
The advisory board has wrestled with Delray Place to reduce the size of shopping center and increase parking.
It rejected an earlier proposal last December for 130,882 square feet of commercial space. Carosella cut that 11 percent to 116,580 square feet trying to win the board’s support.
Delray Place faces another advisory board hearing before going before the city commission for final approval.
“They’ve got a great plan,” Freeman said at the March 14 hearing. “We need to move forward with this.”
She said most Tropic Isle residents recognize the need for redevelopment along South Federal Highway: “Overall, it’s very positive that something is being done at that corner.”
Trader Joe’s, based in California, opened its first Florida store two years ago in Naples, which attracted shoppers from as far away as Miami. More stores are planned in Sarasota, Gainesville, Tallahassee and south Miami-Dade County.
Fresh Market, based in North Carolina, has 33 locations in Florida.
Delray Beach approved demolition of 17,000 square feet of commercial space at Harbor Plaza to allow a 23,740-square-foot addition to accommodate Fresh Market.