Update on Publix & CVS project

View of Publix from south of site

CVS work now on inside of building shell

Cinderblock for Publix

Well, the month of June is around the corner, in fact tomorrow.  And the project that seems to have taken forever to plan and approve is now picking up speed toward on-time completion.

The grading is completed, raising the elevation of the site by four feet to meet FEMA requirements, and with the side walls and roof completed we'll surely hear from the nattering nabobs of negativity who think this new CVS is too tall and too close to the road.  Get over it - we needed this new store, which has a drive through facility for our elderly who don't want to have to park and walk inside to pick up their Rx.  Don't worry - that purple color won't be there when they open.

The other two pictures reflect the progress on the Publix side of the project site.  Yesterday I passed two flatbed trailers hauling cinder block from somewhere in Manatee County to the north.  Today those same blocks were going into a wall.  The speed of the project is no doubt being helped by good weather and the town governments waiver of certain work rules.  Normally on Longboat Key (a-k-a God's Waiting Room) you cannot work before 8 AM or after 5 PM, with no work on Sunday and no entry into certain neighborhoods (like mine) to work after noon on Saturday.   Somebody at Town Hall found it wise to allow an earlier start in the day at 7:00 AM, and extended those Saturday hours, so the project will be done and the stores open when the "season" begins in January.  We're hopeful that hurricanes and tropical storms continue to stay away so we don't lose too many work days as well.

I'm impressed with the progress - the CVS manager told me he expects to get in well before the published date of September.  I hope he's right, and that the speed in which this drugstore has gone up can be matched as we watch the newest Publix in their system.  Their store manager, Andy Lappin, is now holed up downtown at their new two story store (grocery over parking) seeing a lot of his LBK customers.  I'm sure Andy is just as anxious to get back to the island as we residents are to have our Publix store back, but waiting seven more months for a "super store" might be worth it.  Better yet if the wait is only six more.

Redneck Yacht Club

This is Jewfish Key, population less than a dozen (best we can discern),  There is but one street on Jewfish Key, and La Lanaire Lane is simply a road that separates lots on the west side from lots on the east side.  I believe there are presently only about four homes, and no vehicles.  You need a boat to go home, if you live there.

But, on a nice sunny day its the preferred place for the Redneck Yacht Club to meet and enjoy fun, sun, and not an insignificant amount of drink.  I took this shot as I was crossing the bridge, which I noted was built the year I graduated high school.  I noted that as I was stopped adjacent to the bronze plaque at the north end of the bridge, as I waited for the bridge to reopen after a sailboat meandered through.

Longboat Key could also be called Long Wait Key during days when every other boat owner is out and about.  On one side of this particular bridge is Jewfish Key, and on the other side at the south end of the pass is Beer Can Island.  Beer Can is aptly named, and actually isn't under the jurisdiction of Longboat, although our marine police patrol still tries to maintain law and order there.  The most heinous crime is having your dog outside the boat and on the sand, it would appear.   Beer Can has an official name - Greer Island - but nobody calls it that.   For the regulars of the Redneck Yacht Club, it's just another day of fun in the sun.   And, I'll drink to that.

Construction update

Here are a couple of snaps I took today around Noon.   As you can see, an actual foundation is going in on the Publix market, with the rapidly evolving building of the CVS drugstore in the distance.

The other picture, taken from my drivers seat shows a very close up trench with multiple pipes running north and south.  It beats the heck out of me what they're digging for here, but it's a nice shot of heavy equipment.  The building to the right of the inset picture is where the delicatessen  "Nosh A Rye" used to stand at the back of the mostly deserted "mall" managed by Dead River Properties.

Honest, Dead River Properties ........that was the name of the owner of the center, before Publix bought the place and unveiled their plans.  There wasn't a river nearby, but the project was dead and dark and dingy.   Change is coming to Longboat, finally, and as a Planning Commissioner I pronounce this change good.

Some Projects Move Forward on Longboat Key

This is just a "progress posting" of the new Publix/CVS complex, going in at the Longboat Key "Town Center" on Bay Isles Parkway.  This is a project I am proud to have been associated with in the guise of a Planning & Zoning Commissioner.   I was privileged to be re-appointed the the Board on May 7th, and will now have an opportunity to continue until May of 2015.  I expect this project to be completed by then.  Don't ask me about the Colony, or LBK Club or Whitney Beach projects - life moves at the speed of a sea turtle around here.

May 13th

April 21st

The pictures were taken from different angles, due to where I could capture an image on both days, but the April shots show the Publix store demolition in progress, and the corresponding shot reveals the current CVS drugstore, all that's left now.

The plan calls for the new CVS store to be built on the site once occupied by a Shell station, one of three gas stations on the island in 2004 when I moved here, now only one remains.  The new CVS store is free standing and will be larger, as will the eventual new Publix market.  Overall, however, there will be less small retail space in the project.  The pictures show that in three short weeks, the new CVS has gone from the vertical posts framing the front door, to a building awaiting only a roof.   The newspapers have been told that the new CVS will open in October, at which point the old building (upper left photo) will be torn down.  I believe they'll open even sooner (you heard it here first) in July.
                                                                                                             

April 21, 2012

Right now, the Publix work focuses on building up the "pad" on which the foundation will be laid.  FEMA rules were not in effect
back when the original project was done.  The new buildings and parking lot will be four feet higher in elevation than those they replace.   The new Publix will also be changing its orientation, and will not longer have the parking lot between it and Gulf of Mexico Drive (SR 789), but instead will face Bay Isles with the new CVS to it's right front.  And, plans call for an eventual third 'office building' in the location currently occupied by the 'old' CVS.
                                               

So, we've come some distance since the day after Easter Sunday, when the project began in earnest.  This being Longboat Key, there are people complaining, of course.  But, the height of the buildings are well within code, the trees in the old parking lot will be replaced and in the end, people will be proud of a larger store (both Publix and CVS) without adjacent empty storefronts  as was sadly the case for the past five years.  There are signs of progress, and some of us will actually live to see this done by January 1, 2013, if all goes to plan.  I'll try and update this project in the coming months.

May 13, 2012                          

Two Car Shows in One Month.......whew!

All GM Show - Gulf Coast Corvette Club

Best of Show - Corvettes on Circle 

Before and after I had travelled to Missouri to meet my new grandson, I attended two car shows, one put on by the Gulf Coast Corvette Club (sponsored by Cox Chevrolet), and following my return the annual Corvettes on the Circle (St. Armands Circle) sponsored by Sunset Chevrolet in Sarasota.  The Sunday All GM Show was going to be the 13th annual All Chevy Show at Cox, but with all of the other great GM brands (many no longer there) we changed it to allow Buick Grand Nationals, Pontiac Firebirds, Oldsmobile 4-4-2's and other hot muscle cars from our youth to participate.  My club does two major events each year, this one and Toys for Tots.  We're the club that also has a lot of fun going places together, while the Sarasota club does this one event, and from what I gather is a bit more "posh".  Corvettes on the Circle was nice, as always, and in my class the winner was indeed a 2011 Cyber Gray Grand Sport, just not mine.  Dave Thompson, a GCCC buddy, observed that "they shouldn't even judge cars that are less than ten years old".  He has a point.

Oh, about "posh" - there's even a more posh group that is called Car Guys Who Lunch - that's the exotic crowd with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin.  I'm told they also have a few Corvette owners, but they sit at the end of the table.   Well, I'm OK with Lance's Cruisin to the Oldies crowd, complete with a motorized bar stool and toilet (see picture next to Jeff and Dave).  We even have Hooter Girls roaming the crowd and selling 50-50 tickets.  Now that's a car club that ain't nowhere near posh.

Lance (and friend)

Hanging with the boys

I've been busy for the past month, and remiss in not writing, but having recently returned from a ten day trip to Missouri, I'm ready to return and talk about a myriad of topics.

Cole Robert "Cole Bob" Kreienkamp was born into the Kreienkamp clan last November 22nd.
He becomes the first grandchild of Sue and Paul Kreienkamp, father of Matthew Robert, my son-in-law.  Caitlin and Matt have done well with baby Cole, who was always expected to be a boy.  The family photo features 3 of Matt's 4 brothers, and a wife.  His mom, Sue, has turned all of them into fine young men, who know how to say "yes, I'll get right on that now".  Matt vacuums, irons, cooks, and is great with children.   Caitlin is free to pursue her career knowing all is well at home.

So, what do I think of Cole?   He's just great, and while my wife had ventured north twice before we met face-to-face, I'd at least seen him on the Apple version of Skype.  Holding him was another matter entirely.  Here he is sitting with me and Ripley, at Caitlin's home in St. Louis.  He's now sitting up, and Ripley is falling down - he seems to like Ripley, but probably because Caitlin has two dogs of her own so Cole is aware of animals.  Beagles are great dogs for children however, as they'll take a lot of poking and prodding without complaint.  We had gone to Missouri to witness Cole's baptism, and later that day a party with five dozen relatives and neighbors and friends came to Caitlin and Matt's home.  Everybody brought food - I must have gained five pounds that day, so now I'm back in Florida I have a mission to accomplish.  I'll probably add some photos to my FaceBook page, but for now I'm offering this as my first blog entry in over a month.  Hopefully that long dry spell is over.