Buckhorn: Downtown Tampa close to landing a grocery store - for real this time
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 4, 2015

Downtown Tampa is as close as it's ever been to having a grocery store, Mayor Bob Buckhorn said - and city records indicate that the long-rumored site of a Publix Super Markets Inc. store could be moving toward ground breaking.

"I think the heads in beds have reached a critical point where a grocery store would not only be successful, but I think it would be very successful," Buckhorn said. Buckhorn, who participated in a Tuesday evening panel discussion hosted by Tampa law firm Becker & Poliakoff, declined to comment on what site he was referencing. But the most likely site - and long-rumored location - is the vacant block between East Twiggs and Madison streets in the Channel district, where a one-story retail building and high-rise apartment tower are proposed.

"I can tell you that we are close," he said. "We're as close as we've ever been." On Oct. 27, the developers of the site, Tampa-based Mercury Advisors, requested that the city verify the zoning of the northwest parcel of its block between Twiggs and Madison streets. That location is where Mercury Advisors has proposed a 38,233-square-foot, one-story retail building with rooftop parking, according to May 2015 site plans filed with the city.

Zoning verifications are typically sought before a property is sold or financed, meaning Mercury could be close to breaking ground or carving out that parcel to sell to a grocery store.

Lakeland-based Publix previously told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that it was "hopeful" it would one day have a store in downtown Tampa.

Ken Stoltenberg, a principal with with Mercury Advisors, declined comment Wednesday.

A grocery store would be a major win for downtown Tampa and the Channel district, validating the nascent urban neighborhood as a place where restaurants and retailers can succeed. Grocers have very specific parameters that determine where they'll locate, and smaller retailers often look to them as a bellwether of viability.

That particular site, however, has been rumored to be close to breaking ground for years, which Buckhorn acknowledges. In 2014, Buckhorn said the urban core was " within inches" of a grocery store; Mercury Advisors, too, have said multiple times that the project was close to the finish line.

"I've been saying we've been close for two years and we have been," he said. "But these things have a life of their own, and the city is not in the middle of the deal, but I think it's going to happen."

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.