How has Bradenton changed over 20 years? Here’s what a longtime reporter has seen
How do you sum up a busy, stormy year like 2022?
Or for that matter the last 20 years?
Since arriving in Bradenton in 1999, the changes I’ve seen have been mind boggling.
Change is good. It brings more life to the community: new jobs, new businesses, new shopping opportunities, new restaurants and craft breweries, new medical care facilities and more.
But change can be bad, too. We see our beautiful countryside disappearing in a sea of rooftops. We see more gridlock on our roads. We see a growing homeless problem and an affordable housing crisis.
Of course, none of this happens in isolation. It happens in the context of seismic events like the Great Recession, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the horrible COVID-19 pandemic. Having an immediate impact this year on the way we went about our business were hurricanes Ian and Nicole.
Changing downtown
In 2022, the City of Bradenton completed Riverwalk East, a 1.5-mile, $7.5 million expansion with a boardwalk, pier and walking trails linked to Mineral Springs Park.
Riverwalk’s importance is critical to bringing new energy to the downtown area. Hard to imagine that 20 years ago Bradenton’s riverfront was a neglected, undeveloped area called “the sandpile.”
Late in this year, developers announced plans for Promenade at Riverwalk, that would bring two seven-story apartment buildings for a total of 290 rental units to the area. Also planned along Riverwalk is a new 23,400-square-foot building housing ArtCenter Manatee.
The revitalization of downtown helped bring the eight-story SpringHill Suites hotel with its rooftop bar to Old Main Street in 2019.
Notable also was the opening of the Hampton Inn and Suites 2013 after a 10-month, $21 million renovation.
More recently, construction started this year on a 12-story apartment building on the corner of Manatee Avenue West and Ninth Street West designed as workforce housing.
Revitalization has also been top of mind in Palmetto, which is now a participating community in the Florida Main Street program.
But any discussion of change in Manatee County must include Lakewood Ranch.
Growing east in Lakewood Ranch
When I started work at the Bradenton Herald, Lakewood Ranch had maybe 12,000 residents. Today, there are more than 50,000.
In 2001, there was no Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, no Lakewood Ranch Main Street, no local LECOM medical school campus, and almost no development north of State Road 70, south of University Parkway or east of Lorraine Road.
Back then, I never imagined that the owners of Freedom Factory racetrack would ever be concerned by encroaching growth from Lakewood Ranch. Yet, they are today.
Back then, it was nearly impossible to get lost at Lakewood Ranch. Now, it’s easy.
Well, nothing stays the same.
Parrish and Anna Maria Island
Among the local icons which have changed are the Florida Railroad Museum in Parrish which is building a new brick-and-mortar facility, its first.
And Parrish itself, which is no longer a sleepy farming village. It has become one of the county’s fastest growing areas. It’s difficult to fathom that two different healthcare companies are planning hospitals on opposite ends of Moccasin Wallow Road.
Anna Maria Island is seeing a transformation with its beach bungalows being bought up and too often turned into McMansions.
Linger Lodge RV Resort and Restaurant, 7205 Linger Lodge Road — proudly one of the nation’s most offbeat eateries — reopened this year all gussied up after being closed for two years while its RV park was being updated.
Still missing in action is Council’s, Beer and Billiards in downtown Bradenton, which was closed for renovations in 2020 and never reopened. Sad. They once served some of the best burgers in town.
Also missed is Grandma Yoder’s, 5896 53rd Ave. E., which closed years ago. They made some of the best coconut cream pies in the universe. You may be gone, Grandma, but we still remember you.
Through all of 2022’s changes, good and bad, here’s a parting thought: happy new year in 2023. We wish you happiness, success, good health and a year free of red tide, COVID and hurricanes!
