Q: There are rumors swirling that the Publix at Orange Blossom project has ceased and the land is now being sold. Is there any truth to that? —Brandon Blanco, Naples
Q: Not sure if there is any truth to it but apparently there are rumors of a chain restaurant or sports bar being included in the plans for the new Publix on Oil Well Road. Have you heard this? —Mark Woods, Naples
Q: With the new Publix breaking ground on Oil Well next to Palmetto Ridge High School, any additional tenants confirmed for the other spaces zoned there? The phase 2 road to Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park is coming along quickly so hope development follows just as fast! —Jason LoRusso, Naples
A: Plans for new retail opportunities are quickly materializing for The Shoppes at Orange Blossom, the new mixed-use development proposed on Oil Well Road just east of Palmetto Ridge High School in Golden Gate Estates.
Shoppes at Orange Blossom Publix sign
A new Publix supermarket will anchor the shops, but a sports bar probably won’t make the final cut.
“We did have an interest from a sports bar but there’s no sports bar coming. We don’t have any deals with a sports bar,” said Bob Pekol, senior associate for Fort Myers-based LQ Commercial real estate services. “We have a couple of pending deals. I just can’t give you a name yet, but it will be public soon. There’ll be two small restaurants, and we actually have a couple of other things we are working on, but I just can’t release them yet.”
The two restaurants are tentatively planned for units 106 and 107 on the eastern end of the future seven-unit inline retail strip that will adjoin Publix, which will be built at 1715 Oil Well Road, immediately east of Palmetto Ridge’s football field. Only the 1,300-square-foot Unit 102 has not been spoken for yet.
Florida-based WMG Development broke ground this summer on The Shoppes at Orange Blossom. “Our goal is to deliver a first-class development, inclusive of a diverse mix of retailers, that will meet the needs of this growing community,” said Aryel Perring, regional development director at WMG.
Shoppes at Orange Blossom site plan
Next to a nearly 52,000-square-foot Publix—the company’s latest prototype that includes a 3,144-square-foot mezzanine—will be 9,374 square feet of inline retail. The one-story strip will include a 2,128-square-foot Publix Liquors store in Unit 101, Encore Nail Bar in the combined smaller units of 103 and 104, a Great Clips hair salon in Unit 105, and the two proposed restaurant spaces on the eastern end that will be slightly more than 1,300 square feet each.
The site work has been completed for Publix and vertical construction for the building shell will be starting soon, Pekol said. “Publix is definitely going in,” he said. “I believe the goal is to start the shell in September or October and then have it delivered the second quarter of next year. That’s what I have on my timeline.
“I think you’re probably looking at Q3 when we deliver the shop space to the tenants so they can start doing their interior buildout. I would say that most of those things will be open by the end of next year.”
oppes at Orange Blossom aerial map
Regarding the sole outparcel in the Publix parking lot area, Fifth Third Bank representatives had a pre-application meeting with the Collier County Growth Management Department earlier this year for a proposed 1,900-square-foot freestanding branch office with a drive-thru for the northwest corner of Oil Well Road and Big Corkscrew Drive, a future public access road that will cut through The Shoppes at Orange Blossom between the Publix property and a proposed luxury apartment community that is part of the total redevelopment of 40 acres of former citrus groves. A new traffic signal is planned at Oil Well Road and Big Corkscrew Drive, which eventually will connect to Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park’s second phase planned on acreage south of the park’s first phase and north of Palmetto Ridge High School.
Proposed for the outparcel lots fronting Oil Well Road in front of the future apartment community are a drive-thru restaurant sharing a multitenant building with a dental office, and another building with a tire retail store, according to a pre-application meeting last week with the county. Another pre-application meeting in late July shows a 4,000-square-foot Circle K convenience store and fueling station proposed for the northwest corner of Oil Well Road and Hawthorn Road, the entrance into the Orange Blossom Ranch residential community.
Adjacent to The Shoppes at Orange Blossom will be Emblem at Orange Blossom, a 17-acre luxury apartment home community being developed by Quarterra Multifamily, a spinoff of Lennar Corp. The multifamily development will have 384 units within 16 buildings and include a centrally located clubhouse with an outdoor swimming pool, site development plans show. In May, site clearing started on the apartment complex and construction is scheduled to begin in September and to be completed in May 2026, according to county documents.
The Publix-anchored development is under construction and estimated to open in late summer 2025. More than 200 jobs will be created with the opening of the shopping center, WMG reports.
“I think we’re going to have an exciting lineup there that people are going to be excited about once they hear about it. It’s going very well,” Pekol said. “When it’s all done people will be excited about what ends up out there.”
The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com.
