Publix at Nob Hill and Cleary to close for about a year

The Plantation City Council on Feb. 5 approved plans for a complete makeover of the Publix at Plantation Promenade, which means the grocery store will be closed for about a year. Keep reading to understand the timeline.

If permitting proceeds as planned, the store, at the northeast corner of Nob Hill Road and Cleary Boulevard, would close around summertime. It would likely reopen by fall 2021 — if the hurricane gods are kind.

The best feature of the new Publix is one that we likely won’t see: Grocery deliveries will be made inside the back of the building, protected by the weather. The trucks’ roaring also will be curtailed to those nearby, because the indoors will shield the sound (and the smells).

The current store is about 54,000 square feet. The new one will be about 60,000.

If you follow Publix, you know the company is big on precision. So you won’t be surprised that they have a specific protocol for replacing one of their stores. First off, they don’t announce a closing date until all the permits and paperwork is in place (no guessing). Then they need about 30 days to clear out store inventory (BOGOs everywhere!), another 30 to move out the equipment, then another 30 for preparing the property with barriers, etc.

 They normally can do the construction over 11 months, but then it takes about another month to get the refrigerators running, the shelves stocked and rehire in case anyone defected. Publix will place the employees affected by this year’s closing, with hopes they’ll return.

This store is 34 years old, and while sales are toward the top, officials said it needs to catch up with some features, such as curbside pickup, etc. This building will be “the new prototype” for Publixes elsewhere, they say.

For those concerned about surrounding businesses at the Promenade, you are not alone. The property manager said he will do all he can to keep their visibility high, and I believe him — it’s in the best interest of the property long-term.

If you are of such ilk, here are the site plan documents, etc., that the city council reviewed Wednesday night: https://plantation.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=7555&MeetingID=496

Mark Hyatt passes

As most of you know, fellow councilmember Mark Hyatt passed away from cancer on Tuesday. He was 56.

A celebration of life is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Volunteer Park. Everyone is invited.

Mr. Hyatt kept his illness private, which I respect. The council received news of a broken femur back on May 23, 2019, and he appeared at only one meeting after that. He did text about a week later that he cajoled his way out of the hospital to attend his son’s graduation, and I’d send him a text about every month, but received no responses in recent months. I started my term in November 2018 (he was elected in November 2016) so we shared the dais for about six months.

There are protocols in the charter for filling his seat via election, which administration will explain at our Feb. 19 meeting.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Nick Sortal can be reached at NSortal@Plantation.org or 954-498-5337.