Manatee County’s sixth Aldi is planned in Parrish. Opening date set in Lakewood Ranch
An influx of thousands of new residents is helping bring business to Parrish, narrowing the community’s longtime retail shopping gap.
Benderson Development recently filed paperwork with Manatee County Building Services to open an Aldi supermarket in its Creekside Commons shopping center at 8810 U.S. 301 N.
Aldi would be a second anchor for the shopping center along with Lowes home improvement store.
Also announced for the shopping center are South Philly Cheesesteaks, Five Below specialty discount store, Home Goods, Crunch Fitness, Blossom Nail Lounge and a Verizon phone store.
The new Aldi store would be going into an existing building, with interior and exterior changes.
Originally, Creekside Commons was going to be anchored by Walmart, but the company backed out of the project in 2017.
Three years later, Benderson filed paperwork with Manatee County government to build Lowes, which restarted the shopping center project.
“Personally, I am tickled to death,” longtime Parrish resident Norma Kennedy said at the time of the switch from Walmart to Lowes.
Improvements to the U.S. 301-Erie Road intersection, including the addition of a double turn lane, helped make Creekside Commons viable.
In 2004, Benderson purchased the 50 acres site for $2.12 million but paused its shopping center plans during the Great Recession.
The property’s value in 2021 was $3.8 million, according to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s website.
Publix has also shown strong interest in tapping the Parrish market, operating stores at Gateway Commons, 9520 Buffalo Road, Parkwood Square, 9005 U.S. Highway 301 N., and The Shops at Silverleaf, 11245 U.S. Highway 301 N.
Last September, Neal Land & Neighborhoods filed paperwork with Manatee County government for site plan approval to develop a grocery store, believed to be Publix, in its Riverfield neighborhood of North River Ranch.
Other Aldi stores
The Aldi store proposed for Creekside Commons would be the company’s sixth in Manatee County. In May, the company filed paperwork with Manatee County Building Services seeking approvals to build its fifth local store at 8510 Heritage Green Way in Heritage Harbour, Manatee County’s second largest master-planned community.
Aldi opened its first Manatee County store in 2010 at 4705 Cortez Road W. Other Manatee County Aldi stores are at 4525 53rd Ave. E., 5715 14th St. W., and in Palmetto at 605 10th St. E.
Lakewood Ranch will see the opening of its first Aldi on June 22 at 7214 University Parkway on the Sarasota side of the county line.
Aldi is one of America’s fastest growing retailers with nearly 2,000 stores across 36 states. Aldi is projected to become the third-largest grocery retailer by store count by the end of 2022.
Retail wanted in Parrish
A Manatee County-funded visioning session for Parrish residents in 2019 sought to gauge neighborhood needs. Ranking near the top was the desire for more retail shopping opportunities.
Althea Jefferson of The Mellgren Planning Group, who facilitated the session, said there was “tremendous leakage of most retail,” meaning that residents had few shopping opportunities in the area and spent their money elsewhere.
In presenting a retail marketplace profile, Jefferson said that virtually every type of retail was lacking in Parrish.
Other resident concerns included traffic safety due to road design, the lack of sidewalks, and unpaved roads.
Residents also strongly supported including all of Parrish in the county sewer system, providing civic spaces, green spaces and parks.
