Lowe’s may be coming to long-stalled development in Parrish
A Lowe’s home improvement store may be coming to Parrish, according to a filing this week with the Manatee County Building Department.
The store would be located at 8740 U.S. 301 N. , which is the address for the proposed 285,000-square-foot Creekside Commons development project. The shopping center was originally supposed to be anchored by Walmart.
John Barnott, director of Manatee County Building and Development Services, confirmed Wednesday that a building permit application for Lowe’s had been submitted but that the application is incomplete.
When Walmart backed out of the project in 2017, Benderson Development stopped construction on the project, located at the intersection of U.S 301 North and Erie Road, next to a CVS store.
The news that Lowe’s might be coming to Parrish, rather than a Walmart, was welcomed by residents.
“Personally, I am tickled to death,” said long-time Parrish resident Norma Kennedy.
Gretchen Fowler, president of the Parrish Civic Association, had heard the report that Lowe’s is planned for Creekside Commons.
“It kind of worked out to our favor,” Fowler said.
Improvements to the U.S. 301-Erie Road intersection, including the addition of a double turn lane, may have helped developers land a new big-box store for the location, she said.
The project site has a long history. In 2004, Benderson purchased the 50 acres site for $2.12 million. The project was first approved in 2008 but construction plans were halted during the Great Recession and modified in 2014. Benderson originally filed for construction permits in April 2016.
Walmart was originally slated to occupy a 182,000-square-foot building at an estimated construction cost of $10.25 million.
In 2017, the project was estimated to cost $16 million, including a 52,813-square-foot retail strip fronting U.S. 301.
Among businesses expected to move into the shopping center --. in addition to a Walmart -- were several sit-down restaurants, likely a First Watch, Beef O’Brady’s and Poppo’s Taqueria, Todd Mathes, director of development for Benderson Development, told a standing-room Parrish crowd in early 2017.
In surveys conducted over more than a decade, Parrish residents have repeatedly said they want the historic village to have a modern sewer system, more sit-down restaurants, retail shops, and safer roads.
The Mellgren Planning Group of Fort Lauderdale facilitated a session with residents in 2019 on what they wanted to see for their community, where 23,000 new homes are forecast to be added in the near future.
In presenting the retail marketplace profile to residents, facilitator Althea Jefferson said that virtually every type of retail is lacking in Parrish, although the lack of some retail, such as an auto dealership, is not necessarily a bad thing.
Most consumers are willing to drive a half hour to buy a car, she said.
Other resident concerns included traffic safety, the lack of sidewalks, and too many unpaved roads.
“Every single person we spoke to said the roads scare them,” Jefferson said in 2019
“We want to make it easier to get drivers to slow down. We need to make the community multi-modal so that people can get around,” she said.
Residents also supported civic spaces, green spaces, parks, and neighborhood businesses.
Benderson Development did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans for the Creekside Commons project.
