Bradenton City Council Approves Retail Space to Make Way for Urban Grocery

BRADENTON – At Wednesday's meeting, the Bradenton City Council approved development of the Minnie L. Rogers Plaza and Retail Center, which would be located at 201 13th Avenue West, along with an eventual Urban Format Save-A-Lot Grocery Store.

"This is an agreemeent between the development and the CCRA; the city is not party to the particulars (of the deal)," said CCRA Director Tim Polk. 

The idea of an urban grocery store in the area has gone back several years, said CCRA Board Chair Steven Thompson. "If you take a look at the area where the CCRA is (near the development project), there's not a whole lot of grocery stores around there," he said, adding that the location would be "extremely convenient for our residents."

An example of a newer store from Save-A-Lot's website

Councilman Patrick Roff commended the CCRA for working on the deal, adding that "Urban redevelopmentis not only not easy; it's also probably the most difficult of all government functions."

Polk advised the council that the CCRA would make a payment of $745,000 towards development of the retail space, and will also lend the developer $300,000 for prevelopment cost. 

The project was approved 4-1. Councilman Bemis Smith, who dissented, said before his vote that he did not feel that the project "is a suitable deal for the city" due to the amount of money the CCRA would be donating toward the project. "I do think we need to promote redevelopment, and do need to work on redeveloping that corridor. So, we don't disagree with the goals," he said.