In the Know: Restaurant, pharmacy to join new Publix in Estates

Q: Now that the Publix store at Immokalee and Randall is being built, when will it open? Also will there be other stores or restaurants at that site?

— Sherm Schraft, Naples

Q: Please let us know if there is anything else going in by the Publix on Immokalee by Valencia Lakes. Give us hope.

— Susan C., Golden Gate Estates

A: A Chinese restaurant, a nail salon, a liquor store and a CVS pharmacy will accompany the new Publix supermarket, set to open before the end of the year in Golden Gate Estates.

Publix Super Markets Inc. had targeted to open its new grocery store by Thanksgiving, but the store will launch in December, according to property information compiled by Crossman & Co., the center’s leasing manager. A representative for the Lakeland-based supermarket chain was not available for comment.

The three adjacent retail units, each 1,400 square feet, are fully leased on the western end of Publix. The first unit nearest the supermarket will be a Publix liquor store, for which Publix Super Markets Inc. requested a building permit at the end of August for the store’s interior buildout, Collier County development records show.

The Chinese restaurant, China King, will occupy the end unit, while a nail salon will open in the middle unit between the liquor store and restaurant, according to a Crossman site plan for the center.

Jack Lin, who has operated China King for seven years in the Publix-anchored Brooks Village shopping center on Collier Boulevard, plans to open his second location in February or March in the Orangetree center.

“We’ll probably name it China King Express, instead of the same name. I don’t want customers to go to the wrong location (to pick up orders),” Lin said.

In addition to an extensive all-day menu with house specialties, combination platters and even special Chinese-American dishes, China King offers luncheon specials and party trays. China King Express will have indoor and outdoor seating and provide takeout and online ordering. Delivery is not planned, though, Lin said.

Next door, Diamond Nails is targeted to begin offering manicures and pedicures in December.

“Right now it’s kind of hard to say because I’m still in permits with my space. I expect to be open the same time that the Publix does,” owner Vinny Le said. “A lot of customers live out that way and ask every day when it’s going to open.”

Le and his family own six other nail salons in Collier County. Le’s parents started the family business in the early 1990s in Florida and moved to Naples in 2004 to open their first area location, Euro Nails & Spa, in Mission Square on Pine Ridge Road in North Naples. Le and his sisters and brother have since taken over the local business.

CVS Pharmacy has rekindled its plans to launch a store in the nearly 10-acre Neighborhood Shoppes at Orangetree. The company plans to build at 13400 Immokalee Road, the 2-acre property the company has owned for more than five years on the hard corner of Immokalee Road and Randall Boulevard.

“We plan to begin construction by year end and open the store next summer,” said Mike DeAngelis, senior director of corporate communications for CVS Health.

A small addition to its proposed prototype building and modification of the pharmacy’s drive-thru plans necessitated a site development plan amendment, which was filed in April by Boos Development Group, county development records show. The proposed store will have 12,944 square feet on the first floor, and 1,974 square feet of storage and nonpublic space on a second floor, according to previously approved site development plans for that CVS store.

Another outparcel pad on the northern tip of the shopping center originally was planned as the site of a local bank. Specific information about the future of this 1.25-acre lot was not available.

Meanwhile, the new 46,000-square-foot Publix will be similar in size to its store in Brooks Village on the southwest corner of Collier Boulevard and Pine Ridge Road. The rear of the new Publix extends along Randall Boulevard, and the eastern end of the store will have a drive-thru window for its pharmacy.

Publix purchased the 6.6-acre vacant commercial property at 13550 Immokalee Road at the end of February for $2.9 million, according to information on collierappraiser.com. Construction of the store began in early March.

Have a local question? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com. Tim Aten’s "In the Know" is published every Monday and Wednesday. Like In the Know on Facebook now at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.