Lucky’s Market never came to Bradenton. Lawsuit has owner on the hook for $5 million
It wasn’t long after Lucky’s Market signed a lease to build a new store at a Bradenton shopping plaza that its former parent company, The Kroger Company, pulled the financial rug from under its feet.
Now the owners of that shopping plaza are asking for $5 million in a lawsuit filed against Kroger in Manatee County for breach of contract.
The new store was supposed to be built on the site of the former Albertsons on the southeast corner of Manatee Avenue West and 75th Street West.
Kroger announced it was removing Lucky’s Market from its financial umbrella in December. The decision by Kroger led to Lucky’s closing all of its stores with the exception of one in Melbourne, and ending plans to expand into Bradenton.
Kroger’s move came after Lucky’s and the plaza’s owners, BRNK Bradenton LLC, had already been reached an agreement on a long-term lease to build on the site.
Kroger’s decision to end ties with Lucky’s also came just days after the former Albertsons was demolished to make way for not only the Lucky’s, but a planned new WaWa store fronting Manatee Avenuek.
Early discussions about ongoing construction delays revealed WaWa and Lucky’s wanted to begin construction at the same time, but lease negotiations took much longer than anyone expected. WaWa has not returned repeated requests for comment as to their future plans for the site, if any.
The plaza owners believe Kroger is still on the hook for the lease, as it was still the parent company of Lucky’s at the time the lease was signed.
According to court documents, the lawsuit was filed on May 18 and is in its early phases.
The Lucky’s saga began in the summer of 2018 when the company announced its intention to build a new store in Bradenton, creating a lot of excitement in the community.
A BRNK spokesman said at the time, the news of Lucky’s and WaWa planning to build new stores had drawn the attention of national retail companies and restaurant chains interested in opening there.
Even after the initial excitement, the project went silent for over a year before a Lucky’s spokesman said the plan was still to move forward, but construction wouldn’t likely start until the end of 2019.
Two months later in December, Kroger announced it was severing financial ties with Lucky’s. The announcement that Lucky’s wasn’t coming to Bradenton surfaced in January.
“This is an action for breach of contract,” the lawsuit states.
According to the court documents, BRNK provided several opportunities for Kroger to respond to the dispute before filing the lawsuit, with no response from the Ohio-based company.
The most recent filing in the case occurred on June 6 with a notice that the Kroger Company would be served with the suit.
Kroger did not immediately return a call for comment.
Just a month prior to Kroger’s announcement about Lucky’s, Kmart announced the closure of its only Bradenton location across Manatee Avenue West, leaving in doubt the future of retail on a major gateway to the beach.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 1:52 PM.