LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. — Karina and Shane Thompson rollerblade through their neighborhood. They moved into the Westlake community just two months ago.
"You have this waterpark and coming are basketball courts, and to look at the future site plan how they are going to build restaurants," said Shane.
Katrina Long-Robinson is the Vice-Mayor of Westlake.
"At our last meeting, we were able to go ahead and move forward with the plan development of Publix. And Publix is now coming to Westlake," said Long-Robinson.
John Carter is Vice-President of Minto Communities.
"Publix store, they will be the dominant anchor in the plaza. They are going to split the project in two phases. So their first phase is approximately 70-thousand square feet," Carter said. "So they will have their anchor built as well as some bays. It would be leased to your typical nail salon, haircuts, laundry, dry clean service," he added. "House sales are also up. Because of the size and scale that we are operating at now, we have about 60 percent of all of our residential units in the development pipeline."
Ken Cassel is the Westlake City Manager.
"As a city manager looking for the synergy that's developed between housing residence and commercial moving in, I'm very happy that right behind you is the tax collector's office that is located here, that will bring great daytime jobs," said Cassel.
Long-Robinson agrees about more job opportunities in the community.
"And with business opportunity comes jobs and so we are excited about what we are honestly able to do here in Westlake," she said.
As for the Thompsons, they are looking forward to the growth.
"I think it's so exciting to be a part of a new city, right. Everything is brand new to start with and it's just exciting to see it happen from the ground up," said Karina.
Some in the community are wondering what will happen to the location where Winn Dixie was located on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. NewsChannel 5 reached out to the company. We received the following statement from Joe Caldwell, Director of Corporate Communications and Government Relations for Southeastern Grocers.
"We are continually evaluating and improving our stores and work hard to provide the freshest products and quality shopping experiences in each community we serve. While there are not any immediate plans in place to reopen this location, we will certainly keep your viewers and our customers informed whenever we have anything definitive to announce."
