Publix buys two parcels for Longboat store

BUYER: Avenue of the Flowers Acquisition Co. LLC (principal: John Attaway Jr., David Phillips, Jeffrey Chamberlain and William Crenshaw), Lakeland

SELLER: W. Howard Rooks

PROPERTY: 525 Bay Isles Parkway, Longboat Key

PRICE: $1.25 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.4 million, May 2004

SELLER: Bay Isles Enclave Acquisition LLC

PROPERTY: 594 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key

PRICE: $1.1 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.25 million, January 2006

LAW FIRM ON DEED: GrayRobinson PA, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc. purchased two parcels adjacent to its Avenue of the Flowers Publix store on Longboat Key for $2.35 million.

Local real estate investor W. Howard Rooks sold the 1.52-acre Town Plaza II for $1.25 million to the Publix purchase entity Avenue of the Flowers Acquisition LLC. Bay Isles Enclave Acquisition LLC sold a 0.97-acre property near Bay Isles Road for $1.1 million.

Publix plans to close its existing store next month, demolish it in May and re-open a new store by December. The resulting 49,533-square-foot prototype Publix store will feature conventional grocery items, many of the chain's GreenWise products and enhanced selections of wines and cheeses, a salad bar, soup bar and Pacific wok station. It will also feature a pharmacy, but has not decided if it will include a liquor store.

Publix also plans to develop a stand-alone 14,528-square-foot CVS Pharmacy on the site of a former Shell gas station, and a separate 4,000-square-foot office/retail building on the northeast corner of the property near Bay Isles Road.

— Additional reporting by Robin Hartill and Kurt Schultheis, correspondents