Nearly two years after a tornado destroyed a Publix supermarket on the verge of opening in Avenir, residents of the growing western Palm Beach Gardens community will soon finally have a new store to call their own.
Florida’s signature grocer will open the new store on May 21 in the Avenir Town Center at 12535 Northlake Blvd., west of Florida’s Turnpike, the company announced in an online listing.
It will be one of the larger new Publix stores at 48,388 square feet and will feature traditional amenities such as a bakery, a deli, a pharmacy and a liquor store. It will join several other newer stores across Palm Beach County.
Publix planned to open a location in Avenir in the fall of 2024, but an EF3 tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton that October caused significant damage to the nearly completed structure, as well as to several nearby homes.
EF3 tornados carry winds of 136 to 165 mph. This one formed near Wellington and traveled to the northeast through The Acreage to Jupiter Farms, damaging scores of homes and businesses. It was one of several Milton spawned across Florida, killing at least six people.
The Publix building’s roof caved in and the building sustained cracks along its outside walls.
The new Publix will be one of two major grocery chains opening in the next few months in or near Avenir, which will have more than 4,000 homes once it is built out.
A 22,000 square-foot Aldi store is under construction at the Coconut Crossing development at the southwest corner of Northlake Boulevard and Coconut Boulevard, across from an entrance to Avenir. The store is scheduled to open in the summer, an Aldi spokesperson said.
Julius Whigham II covers northern Palm Beach County and public safety for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Publix opening Avenir store in Palm Beach Gardens after tornado damage
Reporting by Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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