Paul NutcherThe Ledger
Publix has found another shopping center surrounded by homes and businesses in a Polk County hot spot primed for growth, but not without growing pains felt by their next-door neighbors.
The latest Publix grocery store is set to open Feb. 23 at the Lake Juliana Shopping Center along County Road 559 in Auburndale, the grocery chain’s website said. A liquor store and pharmacy are part of the plans, as well as a drive-through for prescription pickups and drop offs, as shown on plans submitted to the Auburndale planning department.
Neither Maria Brous nor Brian West, who are media relations contacts for Publix, responded to an email requesting further details about the store opening. Several attempts this week to obtain building permit records from Auburndale for the projects at the shopping center were unsuccessful.
New Havendale locationPublix navigates patchwork of county, city liquor store codes
Booming areaWith housing developments exploding in east Haines City, a new Publix store is planned
On Hatchineha RoadDeveloper and residents make cases for and against Creek Ranch development
According to resident John Gilboe, 66, of the Lake Juliana Estates subdivision, the store construction during the fall of 2021 disturbed the quality of life for residents of the Lake Juliana Estates subdivision, especially those whose backyards bordered the construction site.
During the site development phase, first the acreage of mostly trees was cleared and burned on site and the rising ashes fell on his property, leaving a snow-like coating on his car parked in his driveway, he said.
An uncovered sand pile at the construction site allowed sand to blow into his pool and then soil compaction led to his house shaking to the foundation, as shown in videos he provided to The Ledger. Construction equipment blocked his and his neighbors’ views from their backyards.
Still Gilboe, who has since moved to Michigan for family reasons, said Publix did come to a meeting with the developer, the city’s planning and building department and residents of the subdivision. The noise and sand complaints were mitigated, although it took several months to get some action.
“Finally I got a call from Publix and they were very nice and said, ‘Yeah, this is a problem,’ and they were going to try to mitigate it,” he said. “They did. They made an effort, at least, and I appreciated that.”
Craig Campbell, 58, a retired and disabled U.S. Air Force veteran with 23 years of service who was Gilboe's next-door neighbor, said he still has issues as Publix begins the process of opening with truckload after truckload.
He said he hears the noise of Publix trucks backing up throughout the day and the shopping center lighting makes it hard to sleep at night. A six-foot privacy fence along his backyard perimeter provides no visual buffer. The required young saplings planted along the property line to meet city codes will take years to mature, so Campbell said he doesn't expect to see any improvement from the sight of the grocery store’s operations any time soon.
“I watched three trucks back in there this morning and unload, right in back of Publix. And I’m like wow, this sucks,” he said recently.
Like Gilboe,Campbell said he wanted to sell his two-story home for a single-story home because of his disability and his resulting mobility issues. But no buyers are interested in the home at the market rate because of the views from his back window, he said.
“I just had to take my house off the market,” he said. “Everybody that came through said, 'absolutely love thehouse; don't like that.'” He estimated a loss in property value of about $100,000.
He said another parcel next to Publix has not been developed yet and could make matters even worse.
“There's a place that's even closer, that's right behind me, and they're gonna have to go through the same thing and you know I'm a little bit concerned about the foundation (of thehouse) and everything else,” said Campbell, worrying about a rerun of the soil compaction process.
The new shopping center
Publix will anchor the 62,400-square-foot shopping center at the southwest corner of CR 559 and William Van Fleet Road, which is one mile south of the Interstate 4 exit ramp, according to Watkins Real Estate Group, which is leasing space at the plaza. Attempts to reach Watkins were unsuccessful.
The shopping center will serve Polk County residents within the Berkley Road corridor, the CR 559 corridor and the cities of Lake Alfred and Polk City, Watkins said.
The area has seen 2,000 new homes in recent years and the location is five minutes from Florida Polytechnic University, Watkins said. The 2020 population served by the retail development would have been 37,511 people, and that number is expected to climb to 41,969 people by 2025.
The Lake Juliana Estates subdivision has started a second phase with another 204 homes coming. Another 384 multi-family housing units are set to be built on land adjacent to the neighborhood and the shopping center.
Across the street from Lake Juliana Estates phase two is a 1.5 million-square-foot Amazon distribution center. Another 1 million-square-foot distribution center is currently under construction next to Amazon.
A project summary filed with the Auburndale planning department said the Lake Juliana Shopping Center was to be built on a 15-acre site and has a 48,387-square-foot Publix grocery store, similar to the size of the one that opened on County Line Road in Lakeland in 2021. The strip mall has another 14,000 square feet of retail shops, which includes a 1,400-square-foot Publix liquor store.
At least four parcels were combined for the shopping center, according to Polk County property records. Those parcels are all shown as being owned by Atlanta-based Lake Juliana Retail LLC since October 2020.
Lakeland-based Publix Super Market Inc. is the largest employee-owned company in the United States with 240,000 employees and $48 billion in retail sales in 2021.
Publix operates 1,326 stores throughout the Southeast and 844 stores in Florida. Using Publix Nearby Store function on its website, it shows 14 other stores within a 13-mile radius of the Publix at Lake Juliana. All 15 stores are within Polk County.
