publix - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T14:27:07Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/publixPaws Up for Pets: Publix signs underline distinction between service dogs, other canineshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/paws-up-for-pets-publix-signs-underline-distinction-between-servi2023-10-03T17:48:35.000Z2023-10-03T17:48:35.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12239032053,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12239032053,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="441" alt="12239032053?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a>Canine Companions' service dogs are trained to help people with disabilities and differ from therapy dogs and emotional support dogs. <strong>Photo provided by Canine Companions</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Arden Moore</strong></p>
<p>Given my 20-plus years in the pet industry, I am keenly aware of hot-button topics. What to feed — and what not to feed — your pet unleashes plenty of fierce opinions among pet parents.</p>
<p>Also triggering plenty of barky debates are canine credentials: What’s the difference between a therapy dog, an emotional support canine and a service dog?</p>
<p>Recently, new signs at the entrances of Publix stores across the state remind shoppers that only service dogs are permitted inside. For people with emotional support animals, that means their dogs are not allowed to ride in shopping carts or walk beside them on leashes up and down the aisles. </p>
<p>Even though this has been a Publix policy for a few years, the new signs out front have provoked heated comments.</p>
<p>So, let me carefully dive in and explain the differences among these designated dogs.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">Therapy dogs</span> <br /> My terrier mix, Kona, is a registered therapy dog. To earn this designation, she had to complete basic dog obedience classes, ace her AKC Canine Good Citizenship test and complete a series of supervised visits to a memory care center. </p>
<p>Therapy dogs are canine goodwill ambassadors. They must be invited to schools, senior citizen facilities and other places to enter their premises. They are insured and must be well-mannered and tolerant of being touched by all types of people. </p>
<p>Two national therapy training groups are Pet Partners (petpartners.org) and Love on a Leash (<a href="http://www.loveonaleash.org">www.loveonaleash.org</a>).</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">Emotional support dogs</span><br /> Now let’s move on to the next tier: emotional support animals. For a dog to be deemed an ESA, a person must obtain a “prescription” in the form of a letter from a mental health professional that states the dog is necessary for that person’s mental well-being. An ESA dog can be any age and any breed and does not require specific training.</p>
<p>According to the federal Fair Housing Act, people with these ESA prescriptions cannot be prevented from obtaining housing, even in places with no-pets-allowed policies. They cannot be charged a pet deposit. However, ESA dogs do not have any legal power to enter any business, including supermarkets. </p>
<p>One Boca Raton resident who asked not to be identified obtained a psychologist’s written prescription for an ESA-designated dog for her daughter, who is on the autism spectrum, to offset the stress of college life. The Lhasa apso mix lives with her in her dorm. </p>
<p>“This dog has really helped her at college, but she doesn’t need the dog for a trip to Publix,” added the mother. </p>
<p>Since December 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation revised guidelines for animals traveling inside the cabins of commercial airlines. Only service dogs with DOT-required documentation as to their training, health and certification are allowed to travel in the cabin at no charge. <br /> <br /><span style="font-size:14pt;">Service dogs</span><br />Finally, let’s discuss service dogs. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines service dogs as those “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.”</p>
<p>These dogs are trained by professionals to perform specific tasks to assist people who may have physical, hearing or visual impairments, or may be medically identified as having post-traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>Service dogs are legally allowed to accompany their people into restaurants, shops, hospitals, schools and hotels. But owners of these places can ask the person to leave if the service dog is acting unruly or urinating or defecating. </p>
<p>ADA guidelines allow anyone — be it a person on the street or a store owner — to ask the person with a dog wearing a service dog designation only two questions:</p>
<p>• Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?<br /> • What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?</p>
<p>However, under federal law, no one is allowed to ask that person the extent of his or her disability, to show proof that this dog has been trained and certified as a service dog or ask the person to have the dog perform a specific task. </p>
<p>A genuine service dog must undergo extensive training, sometimes for up to two years. Canine Companions, with six training centers across the country, including Florida, is one of the largest groups producing service dogs. </p>
<p>“Each Canine Companion puppy is specifically bred, raised by a volunteer puppy raiser, then trained by professional instructors before being matched with a child, adult or veteran with a disability completely free of charge,” says Courtney Craig, Canine Companions spokesperson.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">Beware false credentials</span><br /> OK, now come blurred lines. I spent about five minutes online and located several sites proclaiming anyone can obtain a service dog vest, harness and ID card quickly without the dog undergoing any training.</p>
<p>And that’s the problem. There are genuine service dogs and fake ones. There continue to be incidents in which an untrained dog wearing an online service dog vest has attacked a legitimately trained service dog. In some cases, that service dog becomes “dog apprehensive” and is removed from service. The person partnered with that dog is now without a dog and loses safe opportunities to be out in public. </p>
<p>“When poorly trained dogs misbehave, businesses are more likely to deny access to service dogs,” says Wallis Brozman, communications and advocacy coordinator for Canine</p>
<p>Companions' Southeast center in Fort Lauderdale. “This decreases inclusion and independence for people with disabilities.” </p>
<p>A 2022 study by Canine Companions involving more than 1,500 service dog users found that:</p>
<p>• 93% reported encountering a poorly trained dog in places where pets are not permitted.<br /> • 79% reported that a dog barked at, snapped at, lunged at and even bit their service dog.<br /> • 80% of people with service dogs report that these fake, untrained service dogs have negatively affected their quality of life and independence. </p>
<p>Dee Hoult, a longtime professional dog trainer who operates Applause Your Paws in South Florida, says, “I can spot a fake service dog three aisles away. Legitimate service dogs also signal when they must go and will not defecate or urinate in the aisle or pull on their leashes.” </p>
<p>In 31 states, including Florida, it is against the law to pass off a fake service dog as a real one. It is considered a second-degree misdemeanor and, if convicted, a violator may face a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail. </p>
<p>Yes, dogs are gaining more invitations these days to join their people, but for everyone’s safety, please know and respect the access opportunities among therapy, ESA and service dogs.</p>
<p><em>Arden Moore is an author, speaker and master certified pet first-aid instructor. She hosts a radio show, Arden Moore’s Four Legged Life (<a href="http://www.fourleggedlife.com">www.fourleggedlife.com</a>), and the weekly </em>Oh Behave! <em>podcast on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more by visiting <a href="http://www.ardenmoore.com">www.ardenmoore.com</a>.</em></p></div>Paws Up for Pets: Food shortage hits cat colonies especially hard, rescue groups sayhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/paws-up-for-pets-food-shortage-hits-cat-colonies-especially-hard-2022-03-01T15:01:52.000Z2022-03-01T15:01:52.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10162795087,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10162795087,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10162795087?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><em>Cats have delicate systems and can become ill if their diets change abruptly. This is an issue because of pandemic-related shortages, rising prices and shipping delays. <strong>Photo provided</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Arden Moore</strong></p>
<p>Since the pandemic began two-plus years ago, grocery shopping has never been the same. It has turned into a treasure hunt of hope as you push your cart up and down the aisles in search of fresh eggs, your favorite brand of toilet paper or even pizza dough.<br /> Or, you find yourself reading signs that limit how many paper napkins, sports drinks or pounds of bacon you can buy. <br /> We aren’t the only ones feeling the impact of product shortages, rising prices and shipping delays. So are thousands of cats in Palm Beach County who depend every day on the generosity of volunteers to feed them in community cat colonies, small shelters and foster homes.<br /> Before the coronavirus hit, Susan Carmichael, founder of Florida’s Forgotten Felines, never had an issue fulfilling her standing order of 100 cases of canned cat food with a PetSmart store in Boynton Beach to feed more than 400 community cats. <br /> John Wood of Adopt a Cat Foundation Inc. could count on buying plenty of canned cat food at bargain prices at Pet Supplies Plus for his group’s kittens and cats up for adoption.<br /> Dawn Herrmann of Truly All Cats Trapping and Rescue used to breeze into Publix any time to pick up ample amounts of Friskies canned food for her group’s cats in foster homes and in cat colonies. The shelves were always well stocked.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10162798056,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10162798056,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10162798056?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><em>Empty shelves like these at a Boynton Beach Publix are a common sight. <strong>Coastal Star staff</strong></em></p>
<p>Today, they and other cat rescue groups are traveling farther, paying more and seeking food alternatives for their dependent felines. <br /> “Friskies pate is a favorite canned food for many of the cats, but now, it is the hardest to find,” says Herrmann, a registered nurse from Lantana who co-founded the group with Kara Sullivan. “The shelves are empty at Walmart and Publix. We pay about 50 to 60 cents a can for Friskies, but sometimes have to buy more expensive brands that cost up to $2 a can. <br /> “Making matters worse, some of our cats only eat pate or they will lap up the gravy and leave the rest of the food. It is easier to mix medications in pate than gravy-based cat food.” <br /> Carmichael has been feeding cats in need since 2002. She is 76 years old and is doing her best to locate affordable canned food in chicken flavor, a protein favorite for her felines.<br /> “Not all cats like fish and will not eat say, a tuna-flavored can of food,” she says. “It’s very challenging now, but my biggest reward is when a sweet feral cat I feed finally lets me pet her.”<br /> Wood is the president of Adopt A Cat Foundation, committed to finding permanent homes for rescued cats and kittens. The game plan for his team of volunteers is to communicate and be creative in searching for affordable canned cat food.<br /> “When any of us are able to buy 24 or 36 cans at a time, we consider it a major score,” says Wood, a property management administrative assistant from West Palm Beach. “It is not good for a cat’s digestive system to suddenly switch diets, so we work together and do the best we can to find the canned food.” <br /> If you abruptly switch a cat’s diet, it may cause vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain. Feline tummies can be sensitive, especially if changes in food flavors and forms happen suddenly. <br /> Veterinary nutritionists recommend the 3-3-3 rule, in which you give a cat two-thirds of his current food mixed in with one-third of the new food for the first three days. Then during the next three days, switch the amounts to one-third of the current food with two-thirds of the new food.<br /> Within seven to 10 days, most feline digestive systems are able to tolerate the new food without digestive upset.<br /> Fortunately, large shelters in the area, such as Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League based in West Palm Beach, are not experiencing cat food shortages.<br /> “Large brick-and-mortar places like ours and Tri-County Animal Rescue in Boca Raton have contracts with major pet food manufacturers who supply us with food to feed our animals at the shelter at deeply discounted prices in exchange for promoting their brand of food at our shelters,” says Paul Bates, communications manager who oversees the trap-neuter-vaccinate-release program at Peggy Adams. <br /> Bates works with several TNVR groups in the county that feed cat colonies. He has been suggesting that they expand their searches by looking for canned cat food at major wholesale stores like Sam’s and Costco or going online at Chewy.com. <br /> “These big-box stores and online places like Chewy have large warehouse space to house the cat food. Supermarkets don’t have that kind of storage space or the money to place large-quantity orders,” Bates says.<br /> Herrmann hopes that the supply of preferred canned cat food will catch up with demand soon.<br /> “This canned cat food shortage is not just affecting us, but everybody, so any donation of wet food is much appreciated,” she says.</p>
<p><em>Arden Moore, founder of FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, author, professional speaker and master certified pet first-aid instructor. She hosts Oh Behave! weekly on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more by visiting <a href="http://www.ardenmoore.com">www.ardenmoore.com</a>.</em></p>
<p><em><br /> </em><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>How to Help</strong></span><br /> All three of these are designated 501(c)3 nonprofits and accept donations of food, money and volunteer time:</p>
<p><strong> Adopt a Cat Foundation:</strong> <a href="http://adoptacatfoundation.org">http://adoptacatfoundation.org</a>, 561-848-4911. Its shelter is at 3110 45th Street, Suite E in West Palm Beach and its thrift shop is at 889 Donald Ross Road in Juno Beach.<br /> <strong>Florida’s Forgotten Felines:</strong> <a href="https://floridasforgottenfelines.org">https://floridasforgottenfelines.org</a>, 561-252-2545. Founder Susan Carmichael prefers phone calls over email. <br /> <strong>Truly All Cats Trapping and Rescue:</strong> <a href="https://trulyallcats.org">https://trulyallcats.org</a>, 561-801-8228, rescueme@trulyallcats.org.<em><br /> </em></p></div>Business Spotlight: Renovated Boca history museum to feature new permanent exhibitshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/business-spotlight-renovated-boca-history-museum-to-feature-new-p2020-12-30T15:25:34.000Z2020-12-30T15:25:34.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8365514857,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8365514857,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="8365514857?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><em>Long before it housed the Historical Society and Museum, Boca’s old Town Hall included a fire station. <strong>Photo provided</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Christine Davis</strong></p>
<p>The Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum has undergone a total of $3.9 million in redesign and renovation, with an official reopening date to be announced in early 2021. </p>
<p>‘The historic Town Hall has been our home since the mid-1980s,” said the museum’s executive director, Mary Csar. “But, due to space limitations, our exhibitions have been temporary and largely two-dimensional. </p>
<p>“Not any longer. The dynamic redesign of the new Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum will allow for both permanent and changing exhibitions that will appeal to families, students and research buffs of all ages — all under the concept of ‘History Alive!’” </p>
<p>The new permanent galleries will include a historic timeline starting with the earliest pre-Columbian inhabitants up to the 21st century, and exhibits such as Pioneer Days, focused on the local heritage of a small farming community; Addison Mizner, featuring the museum’s collection of Mizner Industries’ and Mizner’s architectural drawings and images; World War II, when the Boca Raton Army Airfield served as the Air Corps’ top secret radar training facility; and IBM, featuring a collection of functioning vintage personal computers.</p>
<p>The Historical Society & Museum is still raising money for this renovation, and naming opportunities are available. For information, call Csar at 561-395-6766, email her at director@bocahistory.org or visit <a href="http://www.BocaHistory.org">www.BocaHistory.org</a>.</p>
<p>The museum is located in Historic Town Hall at 71 N. Federal Highway. <br /> </p>
<p>Boca Beach House Luxury Residences & Marina, at 725 S. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton, a waterfront development of Key International and Integra Investments, recently celebrated its groundbreaking. The property has secured $42.6 million in construction financing from Bank OZK. </p>
<p>Slated for completion in the third quarter of 2022, the 3.2-acre, four-story condominium development will offer 32 condominiums, concierge services, and a private 18-slip marina. Boca Beach House launched sales in May 2019 and is almost 80% sold, with nearly half of the condo buyers from out of state. Remaining residences range from two- to four-bedroom units with 3,855 to 5,041 square feet featuring flow-through floor plans, 10-foot ceilings and semi-private elevator access. </p>
<p>Design is by Sieger Suárez Architects, with contemporary interiors by Linda Ruderman Interiors. The grounds were designed by Raymond Jungles. Key International Sales is the brokerage of record. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.bbhresidences.com">www.bbhresidences.com</a> or call 561-453-1400.<br /> </p>
<p>Understanding the need to offer a health-focused environment, the condominium development 3550 South Ocean in South Palm Beach has expanded its partnership with the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa to offer private and group fitness classes. Eau Spa personal trainers’ exercise programs have been designed to help residents achieve their fitness goals.</p>
<p>The classes are available virtually and on-site at 3550 South Ocean with residents’ Eau Palm Beach developer gift certificates. In addition to fitness classes, residents have access to</p>
<p>Eau’s spa experiences at 3550 South Ocean, from massages to facial treatments and more. <br /> </p>
<p>The Seagate Resort’s managing company, Long Weekend Hospitality, announced that it will spearhead the Delray Beach resort’s renovation and rebranding, with New York-based Studio Robert McKinley leading the redesign projects.</p>
<p>Collaborators will include food and beverage developer McGuire Moorman Hospitality, consultant Liz Lambert, landscaper Raymond Jungles and architect Leo A. Daly. The hotel and beach club refurbishments are set to begin in June and be completed by the end of 2021. The club will be renovated, 154 hotel guest rooms will be remodeled and public spaces — including new restaurants and lounge concepts — will be redesigned. </p>
<p>Upon completion of this work, renovations of the country club at 3600 Hamlet Drive in Delray Beach will begin. <br /> </p>
<p>An ocean-to-Intracoastal 2-acre parcel at 980 S. Ocean, Manalapan, sold for $17,258,175 on Dec. 16. The seller was Monica Sound Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company with a Boynton Beach address, and the buyer was 980 S. Ocean LLC, a Florida limited liability company with a West Palm Beach address. According to Realtor.com, Sotheby’s agent</p>
<p>Andrew Thomka-Gazdik represented the seller, and Vince Spadea Jr., an agent with Douglas Elliman, represented the buyer. <br /> </p>
<p>Recorded on Nov. 19, two waterfront lots in Boca Raton were purchased for a combined $14.8 million. A 1.32-acre lot with a 3,369-square-foot home, at 690 NE Fifth Ave., sold for $10 million, and the neighboring vacant lot of 0.83 of an acre, at 720 NE Fifth Ave., sold for $4.795 million. </p>
<p>The seller was 690 5th Avenue Associates LLC, managed by Fort Lauderdale auto dealer Stuart Hayim, and the buyer was 690/720 NE 5th Avenue Boca LLC, managed by a Hillsboro Beach couple, Thomas and Michelle Murphy. Combined, the properties have 220 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. </p>
<p>The D’Angelo Ligouri team, Premier Estate Properties, represented the buyer and seller for both parcels.<br /> </p>
<p>Billionaire Boris Jordan paid $14 million for an 8,303-square-foot Intracoastal Waterway home at 1175 Spanish River Road, Boca Raton, on Nov. 30. Seller Richard Tarlow was represented by Gerard Liguori, Joseph Liguori and Carmen D’Angelo Jr. of Premier Estate Properties. The five-bedroom mid-century modern-style home was constructed on the .78-acre lot in the Estates neighborhood in 2015 by J.H. Norman. </p>
<p>A resident of New York, Jordan has run businesses both in the United States and in Russia. As executive chairman, he helped build his company, Curaleaf, into the largest cannabis company in the United States. Forbes recently estimated his net worth at $1.9 billion. <br /> </p>
<p>In spite of COVID-19 challenges, Florida Atlantic University achieved a record-breaking milestone in sponsored research funding for the first quarter of fiscal year 2020-2021.</p>
<p>The first quarter, which began on July 1, saw a 92% increase in research funding compared to the first three months of fiscal 2019-2020. Federal, state and private agencies awarded FAU faculty $38.9 million for the first quarter, 2020. That number was $20.2 million during the same time frame in 2019. </p>
<p>“Securing research funding is no easy feat, especially during these exceptionally challenging times,” said Daniel C. Flynn, Ph.D., FAU’s vice president for research. “This monumental milestone for Florida Atlantic University is a testament to our talented, dedicated and passionate researchers who are making great contributions in science, technology, health and the humanities at a pivotal time in Florida’s and our nation’s history.”</p>
<p>Among the largest grants in that time frame: <br /> • An $11,179,001, four-year contract from the United States Office of Naval Research to develop a next-generation, high-intake, compact, defined excitation bathyphotometer sensor. Bathyphotometer measurements of bioluminescence are used to study light emissions from luminescent marine organisms, including phytoplankton and zooplankton. <br /> • A five-year, $5.3 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health for a project that will enable researchers to test and evaluate an in-vehicle sensing system that could provide early warnings of cognitive change for older U.S. drivers. <br /> • A five-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to train graduate students in data science technologies and applications. <br /> • A $2.2 million grant for the “Harmful Algal Bloom Assessment of Lake Okeechobee” project. <br /> </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8365548871,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8365548871,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="147" height="220" alt="8365548871?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>Dr. Bernadette Russell, Palm Beach State College’s vice president of e-learning and instructional technology and Boca Raton campus provost, retired in December. She had led the campus for 13 years, and she assumed leadership for e-learning collegewide five years ago. </p>
<p>A national search is underway for her replacement. </p>
<p>The college recognized Russell for her service at a district board of trustees meeting. </p>
<p>“For over a decade Dr. Russell has been a tremendous asset to the college, our students, and the community. She has been a strong advocate for the college in the Boca Raton community, and she has created a caring family atmosphere on the Boca Raton campus. Her commitment to academic excellence has been a common thread throughout her service to the college,’’ said the college’s president, Ava L. Parker, J.D. “As we prepared to respond to the pandemic, her leadership on the e-learning and instructional technology front really helped us through an unprecedented transition from in-person to remote learning this summer. </p>
<p>“I wish her well in her retirement. She will be missed.”<br /> </p>
<p>Christel Silver, owner of Silver International Realty in Delray Beach, was appointed to the National Association of Realtors’ 2021 Certified International Property Specialist advisory board.</p>
<p>“Global home buying activity is happening all around us,” Silver said. “The ability to close a transaction with an international buyer may depend upon the Realtor’s ability to get along with a person culturally. There are cultural nuances that Realtors need to be aware of in working with individuals of a different culture. The CIPS curriculum reviews many cultural customs.”<br /> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8365538277,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8365538277,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="8365538277?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><em>Elyse Duff and Billy Cunningham of Park View Realty with toys collected for the Boys & Girls Clubs. <strong>Photo provided</strong></em></p>
<p>Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County members received at least one gift and enjoyed an extra-special holiday party held at their club, thanks to the annual Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County gift drive. </p>
<p>“There was real concern that our club members were going to be disappointed this holiday season, with not enough toys and gifts to go around. Thanks to overwhelming community support, our area’s most disadvantaged children will have a happy holiday after all,” said Eric Roby, the organization’s marketing, PR and holiday gift drive director.</p>
<p>Traditional corporate sponsors included The Breakers Palm Beach and Office Depot, and newer partners included GL Homes. Another new partner, Park View Realty, helped get more than a dozen Delray Beach businesses involved with the gift drive. Boca West Children’s Foundation, Spirit of Giving and Rocking Horse Foundation also offered help.<br /> </p>
<p>The pandemic affected Project Holiday, which sends care packages to military members and is run by Delores Rangel, executive secretary to the Delray Beach City Commission. </p>
<p>For the 15th annual event, the call went out in mid-November for monetary donations, not the usual granola bars and personal care items, Rangel said. The money went to buy big boxes of peanut butter crackers and granola bars, large cans of coffee and “a lot of beef jerky,” she said. </p>
<p>Project volunteers, wearing face masks and standing about 6 feet apart, put together 65 boxes on Dec. 12. They worked in the City Hall lobby and up and down its halls, Rangel said. </p>
<p>She started the program after her daughter joined the Air Force right after 9/11 and began sending weekly care packages overseas through her daughter’s five tours in Iraq.</p>
<p>Her co-workers soon began leaving candy bars, toiletries and paperbacks on Rangel’s desk. For Christmas 2006, Rangel joined two established programs, You Are Not Alone and One Soldier at a Time, creating Project Holiday.<br /> </p>
<p>With Florida food banks reporting as much as a 300% to 400% increase in demand and more than 2.7 million people struggling with hunger, Publix began a six-week program in mid-December to support six Feeding America food banks — including Feeding South Florida, which serves the Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe areas. The donations include pasta, canned vegetables, canned beans, cereal and boxed potatoes.</p>
<p>“When we heard from food banks that they were facing a critical food shortage, we knew that, as a food retailer, we had another opportunity to help,” said Publix CEO Todd Jones. </p>
<p>“As federally funded food deliveries decrease, food banks need help to serve our communities,” said Paco Vélez, president and CEO of Feeding South Florida. “For decades, Publix has consistently looked for creative ways to support those in need. Their leadership in 2020 has played a vital role in sustaining our clients throughout this most challenging and unusual year.”</p>
<p>This new initiative is in addition to the program Publix launched in April to purchase surplus produce and milk from farmers affected by the pandemic and deliver it directly to food banks. Through that program, Publix expected to purchase and deliver more than 7 million pounds of produce and more than 250,000 gallons of milk to the six Florida food banks that received additional support for the 2020 holiday season.<br /> </p>
<p>The Gold Coast PR Council Inc., a South Florida independent group of public relations, marketing and communications professionals, has announced its 2021 board of directors.</p>
<p>The newly elected president is Melissa Perlman, president and founder of BlueIvy Communications, a Delray Beach-based public relations and communications agency. </p>
<p>Founded in 2011, BlueIvy Communications has been recognized twice by PRNews as one of the Top 15 PR professionals to watch. Perlman was also named in 2017 by South Florida Business & Wealth magazine as an Up & Comer in the public relations category; by Boca Life magazine as one of the publication’s 2014 “40 Under 40”; and by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel as part of the publication’s inaugural 2012 Top Workplaces awards.</p>
<p>The Gold Coast PR Council’s other 2021 directors are: Vice President Amy Murphy, constitutional tax collector, Palm Beach County; Secretary Gary Schweikhart, PR-BS; Treasurer Michael Turnbell, Food for the Poor; Immediate Past President Debbie Abrams, the Buzz Agency.<br /> </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8365548057,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8365548057,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="168" height="170" alt="8365548057?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>Scott Benarde has joined Oxbridge Academy, a West Palm Beach college preparatory school, as its assistant director of communications. Previously, Benarde was director of communications for the Norton Museum of Art, and he served as the communications manager for the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Palm Beaches. </p>
<p>Benarde’s career in the communications field included jobs as a journalist for <em>The Palm Beach Post</em> and <em>Sun-Sentinel</em>, and as a freelance writer. His articles have been published in <em>The New York Times, Washington Post</em> and <em>Rolling Stone</em>.</p>
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<p><em>Jane Smith contributed to this column.</em></p>
<p><em>Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com</em></p></div>Editor's Note: Publix partnership to help us reduce plastic usehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-publix-partnership-to-help-us-reduce-plastic-use2020-01-29T18:18:11.000Z2020-01-29T18:18:11.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><span style="font-size:24pt;"><strong>I</strong></span>’m happy to report that we’re making progress with reducing the use of plastics in the distribution of <em>The Coastal Star</em>. <br /> Beginning next month, we are partnering with Publix Super Markets to improve the delivery of newspapers in the northern third of our circulation area.<br /> If you live in a single-family home in Manalapan or on Hypoluxo Island, you’ll begin receiving your paper in the mail in March. Same goes for readers in Ocean Ridge who live north of Woolbright Road. <br /> By switching to mail delivery we’ll be able to reduce the number of plastic sleeves we throw into driveways and eliminate delivery of wet newsprint. <br /> In some neighborhoods it means that police officers and property managers won’t have to pick up and discard copies when residents are away.<br /> The mailed editions of the newspaper will feature monthly promotional materials from Publix. These same editions will be hand-delivered (as usual) to the condos and townhomes in this geographic area — including South Palm Beach.<br />There shouldn’t be any delay in delivery. If all goes well, we’ll still get you your newspaper on the first weekend of the month.<br /> We’re excited about this sponsored mail delivery of <em>The Coastal Star</em>. <br /> We hope you enjoy the upgrade to our delivery system, as we look forward — over time — to expanding the practice to the rest of our delivery area. <br /> Please thank Publix for helping us reduce the amount of plastic we’re using along our environmentally fragile coast. <br />And if you have questions or concerns, do contact our publisher, Jerry Lower, at publisher@thecoastalstar.com.</p>
<p><em>— Mary Kate Leming,</em> <br /><em>Editor</em></p></div>Manalapan: Commission again rejects Publix pitch to add liquor storehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-commission-again-rejects-publix-pitch-to-add-liquor-sto2018-10-31T17:23:48.000Z2018-10-31T17:23:48.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>For the third time, Publix tried to persuade the Manalapan Town Commission to allow a free-standing wine and liquor store near the company’s new supermarket in Plaza del Mar.<br /> And for a third time, commissioners politely said thank you for your service, but no.<br /> “You’re offering a convenience, but the community is telling us they don’t want that convenience,” Mayor Keith Waters said during the commission meeting on Oct. 23. “The feedback has not been positive.”<br /> The opposition again was largely focused on the proposed liquor store’s proximity to the beach — roughly 200 yards. Commissioners worried that students on spring break would find it too easy to abuse alcohol and party in places and ways they shouldn’t.<br /> “I’m worried about underage drinking,” said Vice Mayor Peter Isaac. “We could be enabling binge drinking at the beach.”<br /> Commissioner Clark Appleby said even a “high-end liquor store” would be likely to “invite a certain crowd” that would cause problems for police and residents.<br /> Mark Klein, general manager of the Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa, told the commission that a carryout liquor store would hurt the hotel’s business. Klein said that, though the Eau serves alcohol in its bars and restaurant, the drinking occurs in a controlled environment.<br /> “No doubt that hard liquor does encourage poor decision-making,” Klein said. “However, every one of our service staff is trained to recognize potential overindulgence and poor behavior. We do have controls.” <br /> The commission voted 6-1 against Publix, with Commissioner Hank Siemon siding with the company. Waters did not have a vote.<br /> “I don’t see the moral hazard and health concern,” Siemon said. “We have a history with Publix. We know what they do and they do it very well. Publix is a good neighbor, and I think they would handle it very well.”<br /> Matt Buehler, a retail vice president with plaza landlords Kitson & Partners, told the commission that Publix’s request for a separate liquor store was necessitated by a Florida law that prohibits selling hard liquor inside supermarkets. Only beer and wine are allowed in the main store.<br /> “There has to be separation,” he said. “This is a retail package store. It is not a bar.”<br /> Buehler promised the commission that the liquor store would be “an extension of the Publix retail store” and run as efficiently as the grocery operation, with a security guard on site. <br /> But commissioners, as they have said repeatedly over the last two years, were steadfast against the idea.<br /> “It diminishes the value of the property in the neighborhood,” Mayor Pro Tem Simone Bonutti said. “I’m looking at the public health and safety of our kids, too.”<br /> When the original plans for building the Publix first came to town officials over two years ago, a liquor store some 30 feet west of the supermarket was included. But the company, faced with opposition, pulled the store from the site plan before the project got underway. Last March, with the supermarket’s grand opening nearing, Publix again brought the liquor store issue to the commission, and commissioners voted it down as they did in October.<br />Twenty years ago, Publix stayed out of the liquor business. But as competition within the supermarket industry intensified and grew even more cutthroat, the company has gradually changed course. Over the last decade, Publix has acquired or built more than 100 liquor stores throughout the Southeast as a way to maximize profits.<br />According to industry analysts and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a liquor store can generate more than twice the profit margin per square foot as its companion supermarket next door. <br /> Waters said he would not be surprised if the company keeps trying.<br /> “I have a sneaking suspicion we’re going to see this again,” the mayor said. “I would hope logic would tell you that to move forward would be moving forward against the wishes of the community.”</p></div>Weighty tradition: Ever-present scale is an evergreen Publix amenityhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/weighty-tradition-ever-present-scale-is-an-evergreen-publix-ameni2018-10-30T23:00:00.000Z2018-10-30T23:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960823886,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960823886,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960823886?profile=original" /></a></b></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Ron Hayes</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">“Publix — Where Shopping Is a Pleasure.”</p>
<p class="p3">And then you spot that scale at the front of the store — that old-fashioned Toledo Model No. 2830, that always-present Publix scale, waiting to reveal your weight.</p>
<p class="p3">You set the bag of fried chicken aside, the footlong roast beef sub from the deli, the fresh-baked, cream-filled doughnuts from the bakery, and bravely step aboard.</p>
<p class="p3">The needle ascends, shivers to a stop and your heart sinks.</p>
<p class="p3">Suddenly shopping isn’t such a pleasure anymore.</p>
<p class="p3">Or maybe you smile.</p>
<p class="p3">“It’s one of our more common questions,” says Wade Rinderknecht, manager of the new Publix supermarket at Plaza del Mar in Manalapan. “People ask, ‘Where are the scales?’ It’s a unique design of the store.”</p>
<p class="p3">Some folks can’t resist checking their weight every time they stop at Publix. Others don’t want to know.</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824490,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824490,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960824490?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em>Lantana’s David Smith weighs himself in Manalapan. He checks his weight every visit. <b>Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</b></em></p>
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p3">David Smith of Lantana is a regular. On a recent Saturday morning, he stood on the green-trimmed scale at Manalapan right after the cashier handed him the receipt.</p>
<p class="p3">“I have diabetes,” he explained, “so I check my weight at every Publix.”</p>
<p class="p3">His fiancée, Jennifer DiMattina, kept her distance.</p>
<p class="p3">“David had me get on it once,” she confessed, “and I said, ‘Never again.’ ”</p>
<p class="p3">Actually, the scales have been part of Publix supermarkets a lot longer than shopping there has been a pleasure.</p>
<p class="p3"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824869,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824869,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960824869?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p class="p3"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824869,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824869,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960824869?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em>Toledo scales (right rear) first appeared at Publix in 1940, and Publix bought and stored as many of them as it could when the manufacturer discontinued Model No. 2830 in 2015. <b>Photo provided</b></em></p>
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p3">When George Jenkins opened his Publix Food Store on Sept. 6, 1930, in Winter Haven, there were no scales in the 27-by-65-foot space, and the store’s motto was “Florida’s Finest Food Store.”</p>
<p class="p3">The scales arrived on Nov. 8, 1940, when Jenkins introduced his bigger, grander “Publix Food Palace.” That newfangled supermarket had piped-in music, automatic doors, air conditioning, terrazzo floors — and a Toledo scale.</p>
<p class="p3">In those days, most folks didn’t have bathroom scales at home, Jenkins reasoned, and public scales usually charged a penny. His were free, instantly popular, and every Publix has had a Toledo scale ever since.</p>
<p class="p3">“Where Shopping Is a Pleasure” didn’t become the Publix motto until 1954, when Bill Schroter, the company’s advertising director, dreamed up the slogan, but Publix has had a bright green color scheme right from the start.</p>
<p class="p3">“Why green?” Jenkins once said. “Because A&P used red.”</p>
<p class="p3">Jenkins died in 1996, but the original Publix scales are still kept in his former office at the company’s headquarters in Lakeland, and they still work.</p>
<p class="p3">The last A&P supermarket closed in 2015, but Publix is still green, and getting greener. Since the Manalapan store opened Aug. 16, another nine Publix supermarkets have debuted, most in Florida, reports Nicole Krauss, the Miami division’s communications manager.</p>
<p class="p3">Publix opens about 40 new stores every year, and every one has a Toledo scale, Model No. 2830, near the front doors.</p>
<p class="p3">Rinderknecht, the Manalapan manager, notes that every time the U.S. Department of Agriculture stops by a Publix store to calibrate the scales back in the produce department, they calibrate the “people weighers,” too.</p>
<p class="p3">But yes, the Publix scales do get a workout. The cashiers see it daily.</p>
<p class="p3">“We have kids who dance on it,” says Gayle Steventon, working Express Lane No. 5, just across from the scales. “They get up on them and dance, and get off and jump back on and, ‘Oh, look at my numbers!’ ”</p>
<p class="p3">The scales don’t service only human beings, either.</p>
<p class="p3">“Some people will come in the night before a trip and weigh their luggage to make sure they don’t go over the airline’s weight allowance,” Rinderknecht says.</p>
<p class="p3">Luggage doesn’t worry about its weight, but when it comes to self-image, perception is not always reality. At the Publix in the Fifth Avenue Shops on Federal Highway in Boca Raton, Ann Hankel stepped off the scales in disbelief.</p>
<p class="p3">“It must be way off because I’m not that fat,” she muttered to no one in particular.</p>
<p class="p3">Hankel weighs herself every time she’s in the store because she doesn’t have a scale at home.</p>
<p class="p3">“When I was 20 pounds lighter, I felt fat, and now I’m heavier, I feel lighter,” she said with a bemused smile. “I like Publix, but I should weigh myself before I buy the bread and doughnuts.”</p>
<p class="p3">Yes, a shopper’s relationship with the iconic Publix scales can be … complicated.</p>
<p class="p3">Cashier Patti Gamble has found an approach that works for her.</p>
<p class="p3">“I used to weigh 300 pounds,” she says — though it’s hard to believe today. “I’m a lot lower than that now, but I don’t want to see what I weigh, so sometimes I stand on the scales backward, so I can’t see what it says.”</p>
<p class="p3">Then she tells a family member to report the weight to her doctor.</p>
<p class="p3">And not everyone who steps off the scales disheartened is overweight.</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824890,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960824890,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960824890?profile=original" /></a><em>Carlos Ballbe steps on the scale in the Publix at Boca Raton’s Fifth Avenue Shops. He says he wants to gain weight.</em></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3">Carlos Ballbe, 23, an urban design student at Florida Atlantic University, was frustrated when the Publix scales rated him a mere 150 pounds.</p>
<p class="p3">“I’m trying to gain weight,” he said. “I need muscle mass. I gain and lose 2 or 3 pounds here or there, but I fell off my bike and haven’t been able to work out, so it was down 3 pounds.</p>
<p class="p3">“The most I’ve ever weighed is 165 pounds,” he lamented. “I need to get back to that.”</p>
<p class="p3">A Publix store without Toledo scales up front? It’s unthinkable. But not impossible.</p>
<p class="p3">In 2015, the same year A&P closed its last store, the Mettler Toledo Co. stopped making Model No. 2830. Publix bought many of the remaining scales and stored them in a Florida warehouse.</p>
<p class="p3">“As stores have closed, we stored the scales so they can be placed in new stores,” Krauss says. “I don’t think there’s a large stockpile of them, but we should have enough to keep them in rotation for a while.”</p>
<p class="p3">So, put down the chicken, the subs and the doughnuts. Step right up and be prepared to smile if you like what you see, or shout “Holy Toledo!” if you don’t.</p>
<p class="p3">Valerie Pullman works in the deli at Manalapan, and she’s seen it all.</p>
<p class="p3">“I’m from the Bronx, and I find it hard to believe,” she exclaims. “They’re getting ice cream and cake and then they get on the scales and get a little sad. Why would you do that to yourself?</p>
<p class="p3">“I say don’t not get the sub. Just don’t get on the scales!” </p></div>Reviving Plaza del Marhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/reviving-plaza-del-mar2018-08-28T20:00:00.000Z2018-08-28T20:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Publix opening caps $10 million renovation that breathes life into aging landmark, excites residents</strong></span></p>
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<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807486,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807486,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960807486?profile=original" /></a></strong></span></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em>An employee gathers carts at the new Publix in Plaza del Mar. The store has 110 employees.</em></p>
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<p class="p1"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807666,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807666,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960807666?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em>Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters and store manager Wade Rinderknecht cut a ribbon to open the store, joined by town and store officials and employees.</em></p>
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<p class="p1"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807872,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807872,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960807872?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em>Suzi Goldsmith samples tea on opening day. <b>Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</b></em></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><strong>Related story: Meet <a href="http://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/shopping-meet-three-iconic-tenants-of-plaza-del-mar">three iconic tenants</a> of Plaza del Mar</strong></p>
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Mary Thurwachter</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">Three days before the new Publix opened its doors in Plaza del Mar, Wade Rinderknecht kept a close eye on an army of employees filling the shelves and undergoing training sessions. As the store manager, Rinderknecht needs to stay on top of it all.</p>
<p class="p3">“This is coming together great,” he said. “I’m amazed at what we’ve been able to fit in here. I’m super-excited.”</p>
<p class="p3">That excitement only grew on Aug. 16, when the 28,000-square-foot supermarket officially opened for the first time. The beige-colored store is about the size of the downtown Lake Worth Publix and about half the size of the Palm Beach Publix. It’s the only supermarket on the barrier island from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton.</p>
<p class="p3">“Because it’s smaller, we have a more concentrated shopping experience, said Rinderknecht, 44, of Palm City. He has worked for the Publix chain for 19 years, but this is his first time as a store manager. He oversees 110 employees.</p>
<p class="p3">“The store has digital menu boards at the deli counter,” he said, as a dozen employees were trained on proper sandwich making.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> “Instead of two homemade soups, we’re offering six.”</p>
<p class="p3">Another store feature that Rinderknecht expects will be a customer hit are the Chef Selections, fully prepared and cooked meals with a meat and two sides. “Time is a real value to people,” he said. "With Chef Selections they can pick up dinner and take it home ready to eat.”</p>
<p class="p3">Other store highlights include a pharmacy, bakery, full-service meat case with more prime meats than the average Publix, a large cheese selection, an extensive wine collection, a floral department, seafood, sushi and fine farm-raised caviar from Marky’s, a Florida-based company.</p>
<p class="p3">Areca palm trees planted on the backside of the center camouflage a water tank and delivery trucks, which will be limited to working between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><span class="s1" style="font-size:14pt;"><b>Before opening day</b></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807893,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807893,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960807893?profile=original" /></a></b></span></p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align:center;"><em>Employees must stock shelves more often because the Manalapan store is about half the size of a typical Publix.</em></p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p class="p2"><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807687,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960807687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960807687?profile=original" /></a></b></p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align:center;"><em>Melissa La Rock trains workers at the deli, which has sandwiches, salads and soups.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> <b>Photos by</b> <b>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</b></em></p>
<p class="p2"></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s2"><b>Hub of plaza renovation</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">The grocery store is the centerpiece in Plaza del Mar’s $10 million renovation. The 36-year-old shopping center at State Road A1A and Ocean Avenue was treated to new landscaping, signage and LED lighting.</p>
<p class="p3">Plaza landlord Kitson & Partners said the redesign actually decreased the retail space from about 103,000 to 83,000 square feet.</p>
<p class="p3">Occupancy at the plaza at times fell below 70 percent in recent years as the last decade’s recession took a toll. But Matt Buehler, Kitson’s vice president of retail operations who has worked extensively on the plaza project, said occupancy has risen to 93 percent, the best in the center’s history.</p>
<p class="p3">“Having Publix there gave us the opportunity to renovate the shopping center and stabilize it,” Buehler said. “It benefits the community as well. It serves the residents there, and that was part of the driving factor. We wanted to turn that into a successful shopping center for the town as well as the ownership of the shopping center.”</p>
<p class="p3">Now that Publix is open, the plaza is doing so well that Kitson & Partners, the Palm Beach Gardens real estate development company that has owned the center since 2007, is very pleased.</p>
<p class="p3">“We’re excited,” Buehler said. “We’re happy this day is here. It’s been a long time coming.”</p>
<p class="p3">Also excited was Terrance Richmond, the first person in line waiting for the store to open. He arrived at 5:40 a.m. for the 7 a.m. grand opening, providing him with a front-and-center position for the ribbon- cutting photos.</p>
<p class="p3">But perhaps no one was as happy as longtime Manalapan resident Melissa Parker, one of the first customers. “I have been waiting 26 years for this store to open,” she said. “Tomorrow marks the 26th year we have lived here in Manalapan.”</p>
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<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><span class="s1" style="font-size:14pt;"><b>Opening day</b></span></p>
<p class="p2"><em><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960808464,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960808464,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960808464?profile=original" /></a></b></em></p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align:center;"><em>Ginny Foot of Boynton Beach pays for her purchases at the new Publix.</em></p>
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<p class="p2"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960808488,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960808488,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960808488?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align:center;"><em>Produce manager Julie Rutmann handed out 100 roses to customers. More than 20 people waited in line before the 7 a.m. opening.</em></p>
<p class="p2"></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s2"><b>Changes in ownership</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">Kitson is the third real estate development company to own the plaza. The first was Draper & Kramer, an old-line Chicago company. The second was Woolbright Development, a real estate investment firm based in Boca Raton.</p>
<p class="p3">John J. Hoecker, who worked for Draper & Kramer, was the shopping center’s first property manager. Along with his college pals Rich Draper and Tom Jackson, they founded the Ice Cream Club, the shopping center’s first tenant. Hoecker long ago sold his share to his partners but continued to work at the shopping center until he left after 15 years to go out on his own. He has his own company, Jupiter Realty in West Palm Beach.</p>
<p class="p3">“When I first got there, I was all of 22,” he said of Manalapan. “We had a lot of fun in the early years there. We went through the original construction that sits on 1,100 pilings. It was a construction event. It was a good experience.”</p>
<p class="p3">Plaza del Mar opened in 1982. At the time, La Coquille Club, an exclusive residential club built on the beach across the street in 1952 by Spelman Prentice, J.D. Rockefeller’s grandson, was still operational. The club was known as a tropical retreat for folks such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Vanderbilts, Fords and Whitneys. The club closed in 1984 and was razed in 1986.</p>
<p class="p3">By 1991, a Ritz-Carlton opened on the property. Five years ago, the hotel became Eau Palm Beach.</p>
<p class="p3">According to 1982 news reports in <i>The Evening Times</i>, the 43-unit shopping center, Plaza del Mar, was long-awaited by island residents. With the exception of a few stores at the Lake Worth Beach Casino complex, the plaza was the only island shopping area between Palm Beach and Delray Beach.</p>
<p class="p3">Buildings were given a contemporary style and architecture, and the majority of the façade was cedar siding to give it “a very rich look,” the <i>Times</i> reported.</p>
<p class="p3">The three buildings of the center were separated by an outdoor walkway, and one had a 52-foot clock tower. That tower was bulldozed during the recent renovation.</p>
<p class="p3">Some of the first stores to make a home in the shopping center were Flagler Bank (now SunTrust), the Ice Cream Club, a gourmet food store, a wine and cheese shop, a florist shop and a pharmacy.</p>
<p class="p3">Other businesses housed in the center over the years included a housewares store, a clothing shop, a cashmere shop, gift shops, several art galleries, a theater, several restaurants, a coffee shop, a travel agency, a dry cleaner, and several real estate offices.</p>
<p class="p3">Besides Publix, the center’s newest tenants are the Shoe Garden, which has another location in Delray Marketplace; and Fountain Dry Cleaners, which opened Aug. 16, just like Publix. </p>
<p class="p3"><i>Jerry Lower contributed to this story.</i></p>
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<p class="p3"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960808659,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960808659,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="575" class="align-center" alt="7960808659?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em>'I have been waiting 26 years for this store to open,' Melissa Parker (in green) said at the Publix opening. She moved to Manalapan 26 years ago. <b>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</b></em></p></div>Manalapan: New Publix grocery to celebrate grand opening on Aug. 16https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-new-publix-grocery-to-celebrate-grand-opening-on-aug-162018-08-01T16:00:00.000Z2018-08-01T16:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>When a Publix Super Market held its grand opening in Spotsylvania County, Va., last month, shoppers started lining up before 2:30 a.m. to be there when the electric doors parted at 7.<br /> It’s unlikely Manalapan will match that level of consumer fervor. But make no mistake, in their own way, Manalapan residents are about as excited as those in Spotsylvania to get their new Publix.<br /> After three years of polite yet persistent wrangling between town and corporation, Publix is set to open its supermarket at Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar on Aug. 16.<br /> “We’re very, very happy with what’s going on here,” said Mayor Keith Waters. “They’ve done a remarkable job. They’ve been very cooperative with the community in addressing our needs.”<br /> Those needs included architectural features not typically seen in nearly all the other 1,188 Publix stores. <br /> It took the town and the company more than 10 months to agree on a sign design. There will be no iconic green and white Publix trademark atop the front doors — but rather, a tasteful, understated backlit marquee.<br /> Dozens of 25-foot areca palm trees line the backside of the plaza to hide delivery trucks and a water tank needed to boost water pressure. The store’s exterior color palette is a tranquil, beiger shade of beige. The company’s proposal for a free-standing liquor store next to the supermarket was pronounced dead on arrival by town commissioners. <br /> In floorspace, the new supermarket is about 28,000 square feet, roughly that of the Publix in downtown Lake Worth but 25 percent smaller than the one at CityPlace in West Palm Beach.<br /> The doors of the new store will open at 7 a.m. Aug. 16, said Nicole Maristany Krauss, the company’s media and community relations manager. “Customers will receive an insulated Publix reusable goodie bag from the Publix Pharmacy and enjoy tastings in all departments,” she said.<br /> The Publix is the centerpiece in a $10 million renovation of the 30-year-old Plaza del Mar.<br /> Kitson & Partners, the plaza landlords, said the overhaul actually will shrink total retail space from about 103,000 square feet to 83,000 square feet. The sweeping overhaul includes new pavement, landscaping, signage and LED lighting.<br /> The plaza has languished in recent years, town officials say, and the Great Recession that began in 2007 took a toll. Occupancy fell below 70 percent at times.<br /> “It was tired,” said Vice Mayor Peter Isaac, who commended Kitson for giving the mall the makeover it needed.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960797465,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960797465,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="101" class="align-left" alt="7960797465?profile=original" /></a>Publix has chosen Wade Rinderknecht, who currently manages the CityPlace store, to take over as manager in Manalapan. He said employees would begin stocking the shelves the first week in August.<br /> “I’ve always just loved being around people,” Rinderknecht said. “I’m looking forward to being part of the community here and serving the residents.”<br /> Will the Manalapan store offer the town’s upscale consumers anything beyond the offerings of a typical Publix? Rinderknecht isn’t saying.<br /> “We have some things in mind,” he said. “We’ll see.”<br /> <strong>In other business</strong>, the Town Commission tentatively approved a substantial increase in the tax rate for the next fiscal year to cover the cost of expanding the Police Department.<br /> During their meeting on July 14, commissioners unanimously signed off on raising the rate to $3.03 per $1,000 of taxable property value, up roughly 8 percent from the current $2.795. <br /> With a 10 percent increase in property values during the past year, Manalapan expects to bring in enough revenue to help pay for a police and security expansion that could cost more than $500,000.<br /> The town wants to add four uniformed officers to expand the force to 15, increase police salaries and benefits, and add to its network of surveillance and license plate recognition cameras. <br /> Final hearings on the 2019 budget are scheduled for Sept. 18 and Sept. 25, both beginning at 5:01 p.m.</p></div>Manalapan: Publix pushes toward finishhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-publix-pushes-toward-finish2018-07-04T13:52:16.000Z2018-07-04T13:52:16.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960804485,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="600" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960804485,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960804485?profile=original" /></a><em>A construction crew works on the parking lot in Plaza del Mar while another works on the roof of the new Publix under construction. Publix officials hope for an early August opening but say the date will not be confirmed until Manalapan issues a certificate of occupancy for the building. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p></div>Manalapan: Wet weather pushes back Publix grand openinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-wet-weather-pushes-back-publix-grand-opening2018-05-30T18:08:56.000Z2018-05-30T18:08:56.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Weeks of lingering rain in May have delayed construction and pushed back the opening of the new Publix store at Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar from early June to late July.<br /> But the good news is all that rain will help a revised landscaping plan to take root and grow dozens more palm trees and even beds of graceful, flowing breeze grass and some lovely potted Crinum lilies.<br /> The influx of areca palms behind the stores — 77 of them from Pahokee — comes in response to residents’ complaints about the 20-foot water tank workers installed on the plaza’s south side to raise water pressure enough to satisfy fire code requirements. <br /> The plaza’s developer and landlord, Crossman & Co. and Kitson & Partners, believe the long row of 20- to 25-foot palms will go a long way toward concealing the tank from next-door neighbors at La Coquille Villas. <br /> Mayor Keith Waters agrees. “I think it’s going to very adequately deal with this problem,” Waters said during the Town Commission meeting May 22.<br /> The substitution of the Crinum lilies for pygmy date palms in the front planters and the addition of beds of breeze grass are aesthetic changes to the plan.<br /> Last year, Kitson talked about a June 8 target date for the Publix grand opening. Vice Mayor Peter Isaac says the word from the landlord now is that the target opening is July 28, but that could easily slip into August should tropical rains continue.<br />In other business, after a spate of car thefts, commissioners in January unanimously approved a plan to expand the Police Department’s number of full-time sworn officers to 12. The expansion is proving more difficult than expected.<br /> Chief Carmen Mattox said the town has “had two setbacks to obtaining full staffing.” One veteran officer has resigned, and Mattox said another was let go after he “failed to perform at an acceptable level” during the department’s field training program. <br /> He said the town has nine full-time officers and three open full-time positions. Despite the staff shortage, Mattox says he is still able to keep three vehicles on patrol during night shifts.<br /> Last year, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office donated a used 21-foot flat boat to Manalapan police for patrolling the Intracoastal Waterway, particularly the area around Bird Island at the Boynton Inlet. Waters said the boat patrols have drawn praise from residents.<br /> “I’ve had a lot of good comments,” the mayor said. “People are glad to see that Manalapan is in the water.”</p></div>Manalapan: Plaza water tank surprises residents at La Coquille; town moves to hide ithttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-plaza-water-tank-surprises-residents-at-la-coquille-tow2018-05-02T16:28:57.000Z2018-05-02T16:28:57.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960788694,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960788694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960788694?profile=original" /></a><em>The day after the Manalapan commission meeting on April 24, much of the south and east sides of the water tank had been concealed by a planting of areca palms. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>For two years, Manalapan officials have been trying to get a Publix built at the town’s Plaza del Mar, and the residents of La Coquille Villas next door have had plenty to say about the plan.<br /> They have commented on the color palette for the Publix facade. They have offered tasteful font options for signage. <br />They have weighed in on the proper lumen limits for lighting and on environmentally sound choices for landscape buffers.<br /> With the Publix scheduled to open in June, La Coquille residents figured every design detail had been taken care of.<br /> The last thing they expected was to wake up one morning and see a shiny 20-foot metal can looming over their tennis courts.<br /> It turns out the water distribution system at the 30-year-old plaza doesn’t generate enough pressure to meet fire suppression safety standards.<br /> In order for the Publix to comply with fire codes and get inspectors’ approval to open, workers had to hastily construct a water storage tank to raise the pressure to acceptable levels.<br /> And the corrugated steel structure could be there for two or three years, officials say, until the town can upgrade the distribution system and replace pumps for the plaza.<br /> Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the plan was for Kitson & Partners, the plaza’s landlord, to plant dozens of 25-foot palm trees along the property’s southern boundary to conceal the 20-foot tank. Much of that was done by the day after the April 24 Town Commission meeting.<br /> “What I would have much preferred is a short version of that [tank] versus a tall version of that,” Mayor Keith Waters said during the meeting. “We want to make sure that it is not visible in any way, shape or form.”<br /> Waters said the town will try to have the tank painted — color palette to be determined — to make it less visible and promised that the commission would make sure the camouflage efforts satisfy residents.<br /> Herb Newman, a longtime La Coquille homeowner, told commissioners that he and his neighbors understand that their property abuts the back of a shopping mall, and they don’t mind that. Newman said, as far as he is concerned, the tank can stay there forever — as long as he doesn’t know it’s there. <br /> “We want assurance that when development is done, that we do not see the back of Publix and we do not see the water tank,” Newman said. He told the mayor La Coquille wants no more surprises.<br /> Waters said the tank would soon disappear from view.<br /> “Our job is to represent the community, and we’ve heard loud and clear that this is not acceptable,” he said. “So we are not going to rest until everyone is OK with this.”</p></div>Along the Coast: Buzz grows as Publix, new residences near finishhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-buzz-grows-as-publix-new-residences-near-finish2018-02-28T21:01:35.000Z2018-02-28T21:01:35.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett and Mary Thurwachter</strong></p>
<p>Up and down the coastal communities, from the condo walls of South Palm Beach, to the mobile homes of Briny Breezes, to the old polo homes of Gulf Stream, a common question resonates from neighbor to neighbor.<br /> “When is that Publix going to open in Manalapan?”<br /> No one has heard it more than Stephanie Young, the marketing director for Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar, where a $10 million renovation is nearing completion, anchored by the supermarket chain’s new 28,000-square-foot store.<br /> Construction is on schedule and so is a grand opening in June.<br /> “Publix gets the keys to the building in June,” Young said. “And everybody can’t wait. We’re all very excited.”<br /> The excitement of new development along the coast isn’t confined to Manalapan. A half-mile north, South Palm Beach is awaiting the opening later this year of a 30-unit luxury condo building at 3550 South Ocean, the site of the old Hawaiian Inn hotel. With unit prices between $2 million and $6 million, the project could increase the town’s tax base by 30 percent or more.<br /> “It definitely will raise property values,” said Mayor Bonnie Fischer, “and boost sales in other buildings more actively than we’ve seen in a number of years.”<br /> The project is a joint venture by New York-based DDG and developer Gary Cohen’s Boca Raton-based Paragon Acquisition Group, and Fischer says the developers have “tried very hard to accommodate the town” during construction.<br /> Christine Mang, who lives next door in the Tuscany condominiums, said the 3550 is a welcome improvement over the dilapidated hotel. Recently the developers offered to install a Japanese garden as a buffer for Tuscany residents.<br /> “The Hawaiian, the Ocean Inn, was falling apart,” Mang said. “Anything will look better there than what we had before. Will it increase the value of our property? I would say yes.”<br /> South Palm Beach Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan hopes the stylish architecture of the 3550 will inspire neighboring condo associations to renovate their 1970s-era exteriors.<br /> “I hope that seeing the modern design will make some of our other buildings want to modernize, too,” Jordan said. “It’s a good thing for our town.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Two projects boost Lantana</strong></span><br /> Meanwhile, across the bridge in Lantana, a fishing village with small-town appeal is growing and becoming even more appealing, Mayor Dave Stewart says. Two potentially transformative projects are underway. The larger one, Water Tower Commons, a 72-acre retail and residential project east of Interstate 95 on Lantana Road, is expected to bring shops, restaurants, offices and residential units to the town.<br /> “Water Tower Commons will be a gateway to our town and the whole surrounding area,” Stewart said. “The development will be a great employment center for businesses and a place where people can live, work and play in the community.”<br /> The second major project, Aura Seaside, a high-end apartment complex north of Hypoluxo Road on the east side of Dixie Highway, will offer 248 rental units and 10,000 square feet of office space. The 10-acre waterfront property, across from the Kmart Shopping Center, was home to the Cenacle Spiritual Life Center for 52 years. Trinsic Residential Group is the developer.<br /> “Aura Seaside is very near total completion and it will be a great addition in the eastern portion of our town,” Stewart said. “It can have a positive effect for the Dixie Highway corridor.”<br /> Lantana Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm is full of optimism about both developments.<br /> “The new residential developments at Water Tower Commons and Aura Seaside are welcome additions to Lantana,” Arm said. “We’re hoping that these modern, upscale communities will attract many young, affluent individuals and families to our town.”<br /> Arm said Lantana’s small-town seaside image will be “enhanced by an influx of new people who will appreciate the charm of the town. We hope that many of them will eventually purchase homes and set down roots here.”<br /> Water Tower Commons is the biggest development in Lantana’s 96-year history, according to David Thatcher, the town’s development services director. The site plan for the residential portion was approved in January and permit applications are expected in a month or two, Thatcher says. <br /> The project, on the site of the former A.G. Holley tuberculosis hospital, is from Lantana Development, a partnership between Southeast Legacy and Wexford Capital. The residential portion of the project, on 16 acres, is being managed by the Related Group, a leading private developer with 40 years of building and managing high-quality communities throughout the world. Ten years ago, the Related Group built the Moorings about a mile away along the Intracoastal Waterway in Lantana.<br /> “The addition of a company like the Related Group for the residential end, based on their history, should have a positive effect for not only Lantana but all the surrounding areas,” Stewart said.<br /> Construction on the retail portion of Water Tower Commons is about a year behind schedule, in part because of the challenging retail environment, developers say. But construction on the first phase of the residential portion, to include 360 apartments in 14 buildings, will begin this year. <br />“It’s exciting to see these projects, as well as many other new sites that are planned or already under construction on Lantana Road and Dixie, including the new stores at the Winn-Dixie/Kmart center on Dixie and Hypoluxo,” Arm said. “The seaside fishing village nature of Lantana will remain intact, while this commercial and residential construction attracts new businesses and residents, and increases the tax base of our town.” </p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Customized Publix welcome</strong></span><br /> Manalapan’s Publix is expected to draw significant numbers of shoppers from Lantana and other communities across the bridge. Winning approval for the store wasn’t all that easy for Kitson & Partners, the Plaza del Mar landlord. It took more than a year of haggling with Manalapan commissioners and residents to agree on the supermarket’s architectural details and operating rules.<br /> “The addition of this industry-leading grocer to the property has been critical to the redevelopment of Plaza del Mar,” said Tom Hoban, president and chief investment officer at Kitson. “We at Kitson & Partners would like to thank the town of Manalapan, its residents and Publix for their hard work. Without everyone’s cooperation and collaboration this would have never become a reality.”<br /> Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters helped broker final concessions from Publix over sign designs last summer, and the town gave the project the green light.<br /> “The grocer is creating a unique store to this market that does not exist in its portfolio today,” said Kitson retail Vice President Matt Buehler. “It’s not a stock set of plans that came off the shelf.”<br /> Besides adding the Publix, Kitson will give the mall a sweeping facelift, adding dozens of royal palms and new LED lighting. The plan is to turn a struggling plaza into a trendy boutique mall with an equally trendy boutique grocery store that appeals to high-end shoppers such as those in South Palm Beach’s 3550 condo.</p></div>Manalapan: Demolition begins for Publix at Plaza del Marhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-demolition-begins-for-publix-at-plaza-del-mar2017-06-28T17:00:00.000Z2017-06-28T17:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960728453,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="600" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960728453,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960728453?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Construction crew members plan for the demolition of several buildings in the Plaza del Mar shopping center</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>to make room for construction of a Publix grocery. Businesses in the mall will remain open</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>during the projected year-long process.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
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<p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /> <br /> Demolition has begun to make way for a Publix supermarket at Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar after the mall’s landlord cleared the last two obstacles to the $10 million renovation project in June.<br /> For one, town commissioners ended seven months of negotiation with Publix and Kitson & Partners over the store’s sign design in finally approving 3-foot white lettering with backlighting for the marquee space above the front entrance.<br /> “We have ourselves a sign,” said a smiling Mayor Keith Waters after com-missioners’ unanimous vote on June 13.<br /> The other obstacle to fall was a civil suit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court that sought to block the supermarket’s construction. Lantana resident Barbara Federico and homeowners from Manalapan’s La Coquille Villas had accused town officials of procedural errors and failing to follow their own building rules.<br /> Federico also objected to the size of the supermarket — 25,000 square feet — and its potential negative impact on traffic. La Coquille residents complained the store wasn’t in keeping with Manalapan’s “unique ambiance.” But the plaintiffs decided to withdraw their lawsuit before the case made it to the courtroom, ending a legal fight that could have stalled the project for months.<br /> Matt Buehler, Kitson’s retail vice president, said construction of the Publix, as well as a facelift for the adjoining stores and parking lot, will take about a year to complete. The target date for the supermarket’s opening is June 8, several months later than Kitson and Publix had wanted.<br /> The approved sign design will share similarities with signs across the street at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa and will be restricted to the same level of illumination. Two monument signs marking the plaza entrances will not have the words “Food and Pharmacy” as Publix had wanted.<br /> Illumination of the store’s main sign is restricted roughly to business hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.<br /> “When the store is closed, we’d like that light to go off,” Waters said.</p></div>Manalapan: Architectural Commission rejects Publix sign againhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-architectural-commission-rejects-publix-sign-again2017-03-29T19:59:39.000Z2017-03-29T19:59:39.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960718268,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960718268,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="188" alt="7960718268?profile=original" /></a><strong>Rendering provided</strong></p>
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<p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /><br /> One of the last impediments to bringing a Publix supermarket to Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar seems to be one of the hardest to resolve.<br /> The town’s Architectural Commission tried unsuccessfully for a third time to agree with Publix and the mall landlord on what the new supermarket’s sign should look like.<br /> A majority of ArCom members — Nancy Butnick, Jack Doyle and Henry Laufer — said they were disappointed with the drawings that the company’s representatives brought to the board’s March 8 meeting.<br /> “I was expecting more,” Butnick said.<br /> Doyle, who is leaving his ArCom seat to become a town commissioner, said the proposed design was not right for Manalapan. <br /> “It doesn’t reflect the unique character of the town,” he said. “I was hoping to see something better.”<br /> ArCom Vice Chair Benjamin Hanani disagreed, and praised the company and the mall landlord, Kitson & Partners, for their cooperation.<br /> “The developer has been extremely — extremely — receptive to our suggestions,” Hanani said. “I think they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do.”<br /> A significant example of that cooperation was a concession to mount a black-and-white sign over the supermarket doors, rather than the familiar green trademark Publix logo that the town has opposed.<br /> After more than two hours of discussion and often heated opinions from dozens of residents, the commission decided to send a list of design requests to the company and wait for its response before taking the matter up again, at the April 12 or May 10 meeting.<br /> Among the revisions ArCom wants Publix to consider:<br /> • Changing the black-and-white lettering, perhaps to an etched design such as the sign on the Publix in Palm Beach.<br /> • Making the sign smaller, reducing the 98-square-foot design and the 4-foot letter P in the Publix logo. Critics of the proposed designs said the height of the lettering could be reduced by roughly half without interfering with the sign’s function.<br /> • Offering some lighting options that might include illumination from below, soft backlighting or doing away with lighting altogether.<br /> • Finding an alternative to the bright red Presto! sign that marks the ATM.<br /> • Eliminating the words “food & pharmacy” from the sign. Most commission members agreed that the words were unnecessary and could be removed to make the sign smaller.<br /> • Creating a more innovative design. Some critics of the current sign said Publix promised a unique rendition, but what the company delivered is something typical of its stores throughout the state.</p></div>Manalapan/Lantana: Nearby residents sue town to block new Publixhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-lantana-nearby-residents-sue-town-to-block-new-publix2016-09-29T17:01:05.000Z2016-09-29T17:01:05.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /><br /> A Lantana resident and a Manalapan homeowners group have joined forces and filed suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to block construction of a Publix at Plaza del Mar.<br /> The suit claims the town acted illegally in July when commissioners approved a site plan for the plaza’s renovation and new supermarket. A specific complaint is that the town did not require an adequate traffic study before advancing the plan.<br /> The owners of the plaza, MSKP Plaza Del Mar LLC, are joining with the town to defend against the suit, filed by Barbara Federico and residents of La Coquille Club Villas.<br /> “Do La Coquille residents really understand that they are the defendant and the plaintiff in this case?” Mayor David Cheifetz wondered during the Sept. 14 commission meeting.<br /> Former Manalapan Vice Mayor Robert Evans, a homeowner at La Coquille behind the plaza, has made repeated appeals to the commission to rein in plans for bulldozing much of the plaza to accommodate the 26,000-square-foot Publix. Evans and other La Coquille residents said they favored a smaller grocery store, such as the one that operated on the property years ago.<br /> “We would have preferred a market in the old space,” Evans said in one of his appeals. <br /> Federico has lived on Beach Curve Road on Hypoluxo Island for 14 years in a home that’s 500 feet from the plaza. She says the proposed store is too large for the neighborhood and sure to cause traffic problems.<br /> “My main motivation is the size of the store,” she said of filing suit. “It is inappropriate for the community and incompatible with the area.”<br /> Town Attorney Keith Davis said the plaza owners intend to move forward with construction as they fight the lawsuit. He said the town’s legal fees “will be greatly reduced” because the owners are providing for most of the defense.<br /> In other business:<br /> • Many Manalapan homeowners will enjoy a reduction in their next tax bills as the town’s budget grows fatter from strong building fee revenues and higher property values.<br /> Commissioners unanimously approved a final tax rate of $2.79 per $1,000 of taxable value for the new budget, roughly 0.7 percent below the rollback rate of $2.81 that holds tax revenues flat.<br /> “This is the lowest it’s been since 2011-2012,” Cheifetz said, “and unassigned revenue is the highest it’s been since 2011.”<br /> Property values in the town continue to rise faster than those elsewhere in Palm Beach County — up 9.9 percent over last year, compared with the county average of about 6 percent. The town has an assessed value of $1.1 billion, according to the Property Appraiser’s Office, with an average market price of $4.2 million, the county’s highest.<br /> The new budget benefits from the impending completion of the Audubon Causeway bridge project, which drained close to $1 million from capital accounts. The town also has resolved several nagging legal matters and expects to have lower legal expenses.<br /> • Commissioners are waiting on the results of another consultant’s study to decide how to go about negotiating a new water contract with Hypoluxo.<br /> Town Manager Linda Stumpf said Kevin O’Donnell of Nova Energy Consultants of Cary, N.C., is doing a rate analysis of Hypoluxo customers, and also analyzing the potential impact on Manalapan’s system if Hypoluxo decides to go elsewhere for service. Stumpf said Boynton Beach’s water utility could offer Hypoluxo residents a deal with “very, very low rates.”<br /> • Vice Mayor Peter Isaac said reconstruction of the Audubon Causeway bridge is on schedule to be completed by the end of November. “There will still be a lot of tidying up to do” through the end of the year, he said.</p></div>Manalapan: Basil Bar and Grill, Jewelry Artisans to relocate in plazahttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-lantana-basil-bar-and-grill-jewelry-artisans-to-relocat2016-09-29T16:30:00.000Z2016-09-29T16:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /> <br /> Two coastally iconic Manalapan businesses that were headed for the wrecking ball to make way for a new Publix at Plaza del Mar are planning to relocate soon in larger spaces at the center.<br /> Manalapan Italian Cuisine, with its Basil Bar and Grill, is moving to the west end of the plaza, near Thaikyo Asian restaurant in a storefront formerly occupied by Guido the Tailor.<br /> Owner Earl Bass says the new pizza eatery will be called Basil.<br /> “We’re going to keep it simple,” Bass said of the name change. “There will be seating for 132, compared to the 79 seats we now have. It’s one huge room that will all flow together with outdoor seating and a bar with twice as many seats.”<br /> Relocating next door to the new Basil restaurant is Palm Beach Travel, which also is moving into a bigger unit with 2,200 square feet, compared with the business’ current 750-foot store. Owner Annie Davis says she intends to be open by early October and also will run an art gallery, Palm Beach Art and Travel, in the adjacent space.<br /> “We’re really excited,” Davis said. “The plaza has been great, and our clients have been very supportive, but we’ll be glad to get this behind us.” <br /> At the other end of the plaza near State Road A1A, Pedro Maldonado is about to move his Jewelry Artisans business into space alongside Evelyn & Arthur Clothing & Gifts. Maldonado said Evelyn & Arthur will downsize by half and turn over the eastern side of the unit to the jewelry store.<br /> “A miracle happened,” said Maldonado, who has had his shop at the same plaza location for nearly three decades. “I was freaking out wondering what we were going to do. Then this came as a surprise at the last minute.”<br /> Maldonado said Fred Weissman, the president and chief financial officer of Evelyn & Arthur, approached him and offered about 2,100 square feet of the boutique’s space, roughly twice what the jeweler has now.<br /> “I thought he was joking with me,” Maldonado said. “We’ll be visible from the road now and have people walking over from the Eau (Palm Beach Resort & Spa). It’s an unexpected positive thing for us.”<br /> Both Basil and Jewelry Artisans hope to have their rebuilt businesses up and running before the end of October. Bass and Maldonado said Kitson & Partners, the plaza’s landlord, agreed to help pay for some of the relocation expenses. <br /> Bass, who owns the restaurant with his wife, artist Hedy McDonald, thinks the new location will improve the business’ visibility.<br /> “You’ll be able to see us from the road,” Bass said. “We’ve been buried for four years where we are now.”<br /> He said Basil will keep its popular karaoke shows and add Motown and blues acts for the weekend. Bass said he is overhauling the menu, adding more fish entrees. Pizza will remain a signature dish.<br /> Maldonado says neighboring with the Evelyn & Arthur could be good for his jewelry business and the fashion boutique: “We may be able to bring customers to each other.”<br /> The jeweler said a friend of his next door at the plaza’s Chabad of South Palm Beach gave him some words of encouragement weeks ago that seem to have come true.<br /> “The Chabad lady said that sometimes good things can come from something bad,” he said. “Maybe that’s what’s happening to us.”</p></div>Manalapan: Code change accommodates Publix sign requesthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-code-change-accommodates-publix-sign-request2016-06-01T17:00:00.000Z2016-06-01T17:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /> <br /> Manalapan commissioners unanimously approved a minor change to their sign code that could have a major impact on business development in the town.<br /> The commission voted to allow commercial tenants with more than 15,000 square feet of floor space in Plaza del Mar to post trademark signs as large as 200 square feet.<br /> Simply put, the change paves the way for Publix to build a supermarket in the heart of the plaza. Construction is slated to begin next year, with the store’s opening targeted for 2018.<br /> During negotiations with town officials and Kitson & Partners, the plaza’s landlord, Publix has pushed for permission to install a larger version of the company’s familiar trademark sign than the code allowed. The commission agreed to the request, but other signage issues remain.<br /> Several commissioners say they want Publix not to use illumination, preferring instead something more understated such as the masonry logo that marks the company’s store in Palm Beach.<br /> “I would hate to see some big bright sign for Publix that we don’t see for other tenants,” Commissioner Basil Diamond said.<br /> Mayor David Cheifetz said the ordinance change applies only to the size of signs and does not pertain to lighting or other details that the town hopes to resolve as negotiations with Publix move forward.<br /> Tom Hoban, president and chief investment officer at Kitson, has confirmed that negotiations are underway to bring a supermarket to the plaza but has declined to name the company. Publix also has declined to comment.<br /> “I am not in a position to speak about who we’re working with at the moment,” Hoban said, “other than to say we’re working with a grocer.”<br /> Town officials have confirmed the grocer is Publix, and Kitson has confirmed plans for a major overhaul of the plaza, scheduled to be completed late next year. The addition of a 26,000-square-foot supermarket actually will shrink the plaza’s total retail space by about 20 percent and require uprooting at least a half-dozen merchants.<br /> Several commissioners, including Diamond, Ronald Barsanti and Simone Bonutti, have expressed concerns that the new supermarket might be too big and change the character of the plaza. <br /> Cheifetz has said the town intends to work with Publix and Kitson to allay concerns about the new store, and that the town’s architectural committee will review “the final aesthetics of the plaza” before construction can begin.<br /> The town has received no formal design plans or permit requests from Publix, but officials say that could happen within the next month.<br /> <strong> In other business</strong> at the May 20 meeting:<br /> • The commission approved a policy change for donations to the town. Under the new guidelines, donations of cash to Manalapan that come with no conditions can be accepted by staff and commissioners. Cash donations with conditions or donations of goods, land or services must be approved by the commission.<br /> The town is trying to avoid repeating situations in which donations came with unexpected requests for plaques or naming rights.<br /> • Town Manager Linda Stumpf said that work to replace the south side of the Audubon Causeway bridge should be completed by June and weight restrictions on traffic removed. The project remains on schedule to be finished by mid-summer.<br /> • Stumpf said a consultant hired to evaluate the potential sale of the Manalapan water system to Boynton Beach is finishing up his work and should have a report ready for the commission’s June meeting.</p></div>Manalapan: Howard’s Market says it’s an alternative to Publix in Plaza del Marhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-howard-s-market-says-it-s-an-alternative-to-publix-in-2016-06-01T15:00:00.000Z2016-06-01T15:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960656467,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960656467,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960656467?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Barry Adkin, owner of Howard’s Market in Boca Raton, was hoping to move to</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar before the plaza began negotiating with Publix.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Related story: Code change accommodates <a href="http://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-code-change-accommodates-publix-sign-request">Publix sign</a> request<br /></strong></p>
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<p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /> <br /> For 30 years, Barry Adkin has helped run Howard’s Market, the family business on Southwest 18th Street in Boca Raton.<br /> That means rising around 5 each morning, cooking up casseroles and deli foods, getting the books to add up through good economies and bad, opening up ASAP after hurricanes, managing 40 employees and making emergency deliveries to loyal customers when unexpected guests show up for dinner.<br /> “We’re a small-town market,” Adkin says. “If you forget your money when you come to our store, just sign the bill. You can pay us the next time. We care about serving our community.”<br /> He was riding his bike through Manalapan about a year ago when the idea struck him: The town’s Plaza del Mar would be an ideal location for another Howard’s Market, a fitting extension of the eponymous enterprise his late father, Howard “Pops” Adkin Sr., founded in 1985.<br /> Barry Adkin, 50, didn’t know it at the time but he was about to pedal his way into a Howard and Goliath melodrama that was more biblical than any small businessman would ever want.<br /> Within weeks of the ride, Adkin was talking with Kitson & Partners, the plaza’s landlord. He offered a plan to put a 13,000-square-foot store in the centrally located building where two other small groceries had failed.<br /> Adkin brought in an engineer and drew up plans that included solar panels. “We want to do what’s right for the environment,” he said.<br /> Prospects for a deal with Kitson seemed promising, according to Adkin, and then a corporate giant entered the picture: Publix, the Lakeland-based supermarket chain with some 1,100 stores, 180,000 employees and annual revenues of roughly $33 billion.<br /> “We went from first in line to second in line very quickly,” Adkin said.<br /> Now Publix and Kitson are negotiating terms of a deal that would put a 26,000-square-foot supermarket in the plaza, town officials say, with construction beginning early next year and an opening set for 2018. Both Publix and Kitson declined requests to comment for this story.<br /> Town commissioners find themselves caught somewhere in the middle of the sticky grocery drama. They have no authority to get involved in negotiations between Kitson and a prospective tenant. <br /> But they have plenty of authority to dictate the building codes, permitting requirements and operational rules that regulate a large business in their town.<br /> “The owners of the shopping center are certainly well within their rights to bring a major grocery store in there,” Mayor David Cheifetz said, “and there’s a limit to what we can do as a commission.”<br /> Town Attorney Keith Davis said the town has to stay out of the landlord’s contractual relationships: “We have no business getting into whether it’s a Publix, Winn-Dixie or some other, smaller grocery store.”<br /> <br /> <span class="font-size-3" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><strong>Is Publix too big?</strong></span><br /> In May, town commissioners approved a change to their sign ordinance that would allow Publix to display a large version of the company logo. About a month ago, Cheifetz visited Howard’s Market in Boca, as commissioners wrestled with worries that Publix might be too big for their town and plaza.<br /> “The entire concept of allowing that (large) store basically is going to push out other tenants with that structure,” said Commissioner Ronald Barsanti. “You’re losing the flavor of that plaza by pushing out restaurants. The jewelry store is going to have to move. A number of people are going to leave and we’re going to have this big monolith there.”<br /> Pedro Maldonado, owner of Jewelry Artisans Inc., says the landlord has given him until Sept. 30 to vacate the store he’s occupied for 27 years. “Right now, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Maldonado said.<br /> Former Vice Mayor Robert Evans, who lives adjacent to the plaza at La Coquille Villas, told the commission it should consider Howard’s Market as an option that might fit Manalapan better than Publix.<br /> “Now we know that there are alternatives and that the market is viable, we don’t have to trade our character for convenience,” Evans said. “It’s not just about La Coquille. It’s about the entrance to our town and what people see when they enter our town.”<br /> John Lawson owns Stepping Out Shoe Salon in the plaza. His store will not be uprooted by the Publix plan.<br /> “Barry’s a nice guy and I like him as a small businessman,” Lawson said. “But I’m for whatever brings more traffic and makes the center more lively. We desperately need an anchor. We need a place where somebody on Ocean Boulevard can roll out of bed in the morning and go buy a bottle of milk. I’m for whoever can bring that, and unfortunately for Barry it looks like it will be somebody else.”<br /> Adkin, with his older brother and business partner Howard Jr., believe their store’s three-decade track record speaks for itself and shows the town stability that the previous small grocers lacked. <br /> “We have three employees who have been with us 20-plus years because we’re a family company,” he said. “When they have hard times, we take care of them.”<br /> Howard’s also brings special services to the table, he says. Last Thanksgiving, the Adkins cooked 150 whole turkeys and 200 breasts for Boca customers, a tradition that Howard Sr. started. <br /> Bringing a store to Manalapan would be a fitting way to extend the legacy of the father and small businessman who died six years ago.<br /> “Our holidays have always been when you have no holidays,” Adkin said. <br /> “My dad and I cooked together every year on Thanksgiving and Christmas. What else could a father and son want than to spend every holiday together?”</p></div>Manalapan: Not everyone happy with Publix impacthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-not-everyone-happy-with-publix-impact2016-05-04T18:47:13.000Z2016-05-04T18:47:13.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /><br /> Manalapan town commissioners say they’re delighted to be negotiating with Publix to bring a supermarket to their Plaza del Mar.<br /> There is just one thing, however. They say they want it to be a Manalapan sort of Publix, and that could require some extra negotiating.<br /> So, at their April 26 meeting, the commissioners postponed giving final approval to an ordinance that would have allowed Publix to erect its trademark sign in the plaza, as they grappled with a flurry of newly minted worries:<br /> What about delivery trucks? What about the traffic and hours of operation? What about the displacement of other merchants? What about that familiar green-and-white Publix sign? And yes, what about the impact on the character of Manalapan itself?<br /> Come to think of it, there is more than just one thing.<br /> “It’s not that we don’t want Publix — far from it,” said Mayor David Cheifetz. “But we need more information.”<br /> Basil Diamond said he worries about disruptions to the peace and quiet of mornings in Manalapan.<br /> “Publix likes to have their trucks come early in the morning,” Diamond said. “We want to make sure they don’t come early in the morning.”<br /> Cheifetz said the com-mission should get involved in negotiating the new store’s hours of operation, but he expects the supermarket giant to be reasonable and sensitive to what the town wants.<br /> “We certainly would not be happy with a 24-hour Publix,” he said. “I’m sure they want to be good neighbors, too.”<br /> Sources close to the negotiations between the town and the Lakeland-based supermarket chain have confirmed that Publix wants to build a 26,000-square-foot store in the middle of the plaza.<br /> Kitson & Partners, the center’s landlord, has acknowledged in media reports that it intends to bring in a grocer as part of a redevelopment project scheduled to wrap in late 2017.<br /> Cheifetz said he expects Kitson and Publix to have a contract signed in early May. Neither Publix nor Kitson responded to requests for comments for this story. <br /> Former Commissioner and Vice Mayor Robert Evans told commissioners he believed the supermarket could attract some 20,000 customers a week and that could have a detrimental effect on Manalapan.<br /> “You shouldn’t trade the character of our town for a little convenience,” he said, and told the commission to consider requiring a tasteful Publix sign — such as the engraved stone sign at the Palm Beach store.<br /> “It doesn’t have to be an ugly sort of thing — if we do decide to go with Publix,” Evans said.<br /> Commissioner Ronald Barsanti worries that the sign might be backlighted and that tenants would be uprooted. He said the town “would be losing the flavor of the plaza” if the new store is too big or forces too many changes.<br /><br /><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Merchants displaced</span><br /> Cheifetz said he believes the displaced tenants would have the chance to move to other spaces in the plaza.<br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960653479,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960653479,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="97" alt="7960653479?profile=original" /></a> One of those displaced tenants could be Pedro Maldonado, owner of Jewelry Artisans, whose store sits in the eye of the redevelopment storm.<br /> Maldonado has been doing business in the same Manalapan location for 27 years, making him one of the plaza’s longest-term tenants. He has endured several recessions, several hurricanes and several landlords.<br /> Maldonado says Kitson sent him a letter telling him he must leave his spot in the heart of the plaza by Sept. 30 to make way for the redevelopment project. He’s been offered another space next to the Thaikyo restaurant at the western end of the center.<br /> “In my business, you don’t want to be moving from place to place,” Maldonado said. “We rely a lot on word of mouth and people knowing where we are. For us, moving is very damaging.”<br /> The cost of moving would be difficult for a small business to absorb, he says. Two years ago, Maldonado spent $50,000 to renovate and expand his store. He estimates the 100-yard move west will cost him $100,000. He says he will have to fit his new location with security systems to protect his jewelry and satisfy insurance carriers. His business will have to shut down for weeks to make the changes, then reopen in the dust of demolition and construction from the plaza’s overhaul.<br /> “Just moving my safe will cost me $1,500,” Maldonado said. “We are willing to make sacrifices to stay in business here. But give us a chance to make a living without having to go through more obstacles.”<br /> Maldonado’s neighbors in the plaza — among them Manalapan Italian Cuisine, Tiffany Nail Studio, Angela Moore boutique, Sheila Payne Art Gallery and Palm Beach Travel — face similar obstacles.<br /> Maldonado says 90 percent of his business comes from Manalapan residents, and several of his best customers sit on the Town Commission.<br /> “We will be sacrificed, and it will be a totally different environment here,” he said. “I don’t want to antagonize anybody. But then the truth is the truth.”</p></div>Grand Opening of Publix at Sunshine Squarehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/grand-opening-of-publix-at-sunshine-square2012-07-30T17:18:34.000Z2012-07-30T17:18:34.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p align="center"><b> </b></p>
<h3 style="text-align:center;">Store Location: Publix at Sunshine Square</h3>
<h3 style="text-align:center;">501 SE 18<sup>th</sup> Ave.</h3>
<h3 style="text-align:center;">Boynton Beach, Florida 33435</h3>
<h3 style="text-align:center;">(561) 292-4080</h3>
<p style="text-align:center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><b>Date of Opening: Thursday, August 2, 2012</b></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><b> Time of Opening: 7 a.m.</b></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><b> </b> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"> <b>Hours of Operation:</b> <b>7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday – Sunday</b></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><b> </b> <b>Pharmacy Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday – Friday</b></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><b>9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday</b></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><b> 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday </b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b> </b> BOYNTON BEACH, Fla., (July 30, 2012) — On Thursday, August 2, 2012, 7 a.m., the Publix at Sunshine Square will open its doors and begin passing on the Publix spirit. </p>
<p> The new store will offer customers 54,000 square feet of shopping pleasure. In addition to the traditional grocery, produce, meat, dairy and frozen food departments, the store will feature the following full-service departments: bakery, deli, floral, fresh seafood and sushi, custom cut meats, as well as a Publix Pharmacy. Customers can also enjoy a hot soup bar prepared fresh daily and a Mediterranean olive bar.</p>
<p>Approximately 120 Publix associates will be employed at the new store.</p>
<p>George Shelby will serve as Store Manager. George has 23 years of service with Publix and was most recently store manager of Publix at Gardens Towne Square.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We are thrilled to open our doors and begin serving customers,” said Kim Reynolds, Publix’s Miami media and community relations manager. “The store’s larger format allows for an expanded selection of health, natural and organic foods and products as well as an increase in artisan cheeses and wines from around the world. We wanted to enhance our customer’s shopping experience by offering a wider variety of products in a larger, brand new store all while providing the same service and value one has come to expect from Publix.”</p>
<p>The first 1,500 customers on grand opening day will receive a customized free Publix reusable bag.</p>
<p>Publix is privately owned and operated by its 152,000 employees, with 2011 sales of $27 billion. Currently Publix has 1,055 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The company has been named one of FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For in America” for 15 consecutive years. In addition, Publix’s dedication to superior quality and customer service is recognized as tops in the grocery business, most recently by an American Customer Satisfaction Index survey. For more information, visit the company’s website, <a href="http://www.publix.com">www.publix.com</a><u>.</u> </p></div>Boynton Beach: Sunshine Square renovations moving alonghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boynton-beach-sunshine-square-renovations-moving-along2012-04-05T14:40:17.000Z2012-04-05T14:40:17.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Angie Francalancia</strong><br /><br /> Renovations at Sunshine Square are more than halfway complete, with several new tenants, including a Panera Bread and TD Bank, anticipated for the shopping center at the southwest corner of Woolbright Road and Federal Highway.<br /> The enlarged Publix is expected to open in September with 14,000 more square feet than the old building and a more accessible design, according to spokesperson at Edens, the Columbia, S.C.-based, owners of the center.<br /> Coastal residents have watched this season as the 148,665-square-foot Sunshine Square underwent its transformation, which included creating a new entry off Woolbright to give the center a main drive and better access to Publix.<br /> The center’s growing pains seem to have affected some merchants and shoppers worse than others, depending upon which part of Sunshine Square they were trying to access. Some seasonal shoppers have been deterred, perhaps by a severe lack of parking and fear of flat tires during construction, merchants have said.<br /> The new retail building, which will house Panera Bread, is well under construction, but Edens has not named any other tenants who will occupy it. Following its completion, the “main street” and parking will be reconfigured, and lastly the outparcels will be built. <br /> In addition to improving access for both drivers and pedestrians, the developers are giving shoppers more reason to sit on benches and relax a while. The center will feature an art installation by artist Mark Fuller, whose work dots outdoor locations throughout South Florida, including a few works at Boynton Town Center.<br /> In September, Publix closed, and the old smaller building was demolished. The new store will be nearly 55,000 square feet.<br /> Meanwhile, the center has welcomed a couple new tenants, including an AT&T store and a DIY Yogurt. TD Bank is expected to fill an outparcel facing Woolbright Road. </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960380492,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960380492,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" alt="7960380492?profile=original" /></a><em>A rebuilt and enlarged Publix supermarket will anchor the renovated mall at Federal Highway and Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach. Rendering provided</em><br /><br /></p></div>Publix in Sunshine Square to close for renovationhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/publix-in-sunshine-square-to-close-for-renovation2011-09-15T22:23:35.000Z2011-09-15T22:23:35.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p> Publix in Sunshine Square will close its doors on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. to begin a planned renovation. When the store reopens, it will be a modern 54,000-square-foot grocery.</p>
<p> The Publix renovation is the next step in a complete $9 million redo of the center at Woolbright Road and Federal Highway, which includes creating a main street through its center, adding outdoor dining spaces and improving the parking, according to the center’s owner, Columbia, S.C-based Edens & Avant.</p>
<p> Area shoppers won’t have to wait long for another nearby shopping option, though. Walmart’s 90,000 square-foot store with a full-service grocery, at 3625 S. Federal Highway, has planned its grand opening for the morning of October 26.</p>
<p> “It’s a newer, smaller prototype. It has no garden center, but does have a full-service grocery store as well as general merchandise and of course, a pharmacy,” Walmart spokeswoman Michelle Belaire said.</p>
<p> Walmart is hiring 200 full- and part-time associates for the store. Its hiring center is across from the store at 500 Gulfstream Blvd., Suite 209.</p></div>Big changes seen for Sunshine Squarehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/big-changes-seen-for-sunshine2011-03-31T19:10:12.000Z2011-03-31T19:10:12.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p>By Angie Francalancia<br /> <br />The new owners of Sunshine Square, the busy, Publix-anchored shopping center at the southwest corner of Woolbright Road and Federal Highway, have begun work to renovate the aging plaza. <br />Plans include demolishing part of the retail space and the existing small Publix to make way for a new, 54,817-square-foot Publix.<br />Columbia, S.C.,-based Edens & Avant, which bought the shopping center in a short sale for $26 million last July, got approval from Boynton Beach to reconfigure much of the space by demolishing part of the strip center that faces Woolbright, making space for a “main street” through the center that would connect with Southeast 18th Avenue on the south side of the plaza.<br />The $9 million renovation includes adding outdoor dining areas, improving the parking design, and creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment, the company said in a statement.<br />City officials said they welcomed the renovation.<br />“I’ve seen that area evolve over time,” City Councilman Bill Orlov said. “I think the changes that will take place with the Publix and the other buildings are just enhancing that area. The redevelopment of Sunshine Square certainly has helped the entire area become more of an area people can come to and shop and dine on the eastern side of town.”<br />The center’s previous owner had begun renovations and had proposed the main street idea before Edens & Avant bought it last summer.<br />“For a long time it looked its age. It was built back in the ’50s and ’60s,” said Ed Breese, Boynton Beach’s principal planner. “I think this developer recognized there needed to be greater visibility and connectivity of Publix to the rest of the center, and that’s one of the reasons they proposed the main street.<br />Demolishing the midsection of retail space also will allow better cohesion between Publix and the other retail spaces, according to Edens & Avant.<br />The company would not release details about the timing of the demolition, causing some worry among existing tenants about their stores sitting in a construction zone, especially during season. <br />More information would be released in the coming weeks, said Robbie Robertson, communications director for Edens & Avant. <br />Publix also did not return calls.<br />The new Publix will be about 14,000 square feet larger, and will be a little more visible from Woolbright through the “main street.” But instead of adding on to the existing structure, the grocery store will be demolished, then rebuilt, Breese said.<br />“Publix is doing that more and more,” he said. “For them to really modernize, it’s easier for them to remove the structure and build back new.<br />Area shoppers may find one of their closest sources for groceries, at least for a while, to be the Walmart that is rapidly rising at the corner of Federal Highway and Gulfstream Boulevard. <br />It’s expected to open in the fall, a company spokeswoman said.<br />Other changes at Sunshine Square include adding two freestanding retail buildings and two bank buildings. <br />Bank of America is anticipating moving into its new 6,200-square-foot building April 18, said Christina Beyer Toth, southeast media relations manager. <br />The new branch bank will replace a branch about a mile away at 114 N. Federal Highway, which will be closing. </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960328477,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960328477,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="576" alt="7960328477?profile=original" /></a> </p></div>