Both of New Town's Publix Plazas Are Slated for Rebuilds. Here's How the Grocery Run Changes.

Publix now controls both of the Publix-anchored strip centers on North Roosevelt Boulevard, and it plans to rebuild both of them. Each plan is built to keep a Publix open at its site through construction. The cost of keeping the store open is time. The work began with the Sears demolition at Searstown this summer, and the last phase at Key Plaza is scheduled to finish just before Christmas 2033.

For anyone in New Town whose week depends on those two parking lots, the next seven years will be a series of closures, temporary stores and moved storefronts. Each step is planned in advance, and none of them happens all at once.

One Owner Behind Both Plazas

Searstown went up in 1965 as one of Key West's three original strip malls. In January 2022, Publix bought the whole plaza. It had already anchored the far end of the center for more than 40 years, Keys Weekly reported in July.

Key Plaza is the roughly 19-acre center at North Roosevelt and Kennedy Drive, about 60 years old. Its redevelopment application lists Real Sub LLC of Lakeland, a wholly owned real estate subsidiary of Publix Super Markets Inc., as the applicant, represented by the Key West law firm Smith Hawks. The same firm represents Publix on the Searstown project.

With one company behind both plazas, the two rebuilds follow the same logic. In each one, the building a Publix needs next goes up before the old store comes down.

Searstown Starts in the Old Sears

The new name is Conch RePublix Shoppes. By June 30, demolition crews had broken a large hole in the front of the long-vacant Sears, and a construction fence now surrounds the Sears end of the plaza. The fenced area includes the former Sears Auto Center building.

The development plan the City Commission approved in April 2025 runs in this order:

1. Demolish and replace the old Sears space.
2. Move Publix into a temporary store in that new space.
3. Build the replacement supermarket at the opposite end, where the current Publix stands.
4. Move Publix back to its original end and rebuild the remaining spaces section by section.

The finished store is planned at 66,854 square feet above a covered parking deck. It would sit alongside 56,166 square feet of retail space and a restaurant, with the new buildings raised above base flood elevation. The work is split into four phases to limit disruption for tenants, attorney Bart Smith told the commission. He projected the first phase open by fall 2028 and the last finished by 2031.

The other names on the Searstown sign are Royal Furniture, TJ Maxx, Outback Steakhouse and the Imagination Station toy store, plus medical offices.

Key Plaza Builds Its New Store Beside the Old One

Key Plaza handles the grocery store differently. Searstown sends Publix to a temporary space. At Key Plaza, the new store goes up next door while the current Publix keeps operating, and the old building is torn down only after that.

Publix's construction schedule, filed with the city, breaks the work into four phases:

• Phase 1: demolish the former Kmart building and build retail space with a parking field. Construction is scheduled from October 16, 2027, to October 10, 2028.
• Phase 2: move tenants into the new retail space, then demolish the buildings along Kennedy Drive and build a retail box. Demolition and construction run from November 15, 2028, to December 20, 2029.
• Phase 3: demolish the retail space up to the existing Publix and build the new Publix. That work starts May 5, 2030, and the projected store opening is July 13, 2032.
• Phase 4: demolish the existing Publix and the remaining building, then build two retail boxes and more retail space. Completion is projected for December 23, 2033.

The finished center will be smaller. Commercial space drops from about 256,000 square feet to 190,925. The new Publix is raised a full story with parking beneath it, and the developer says the plan adds about 130,000 square feet of green space to help with drainage on a site that sits low in the floodplain. Every building except one small one along North Roosevelt will be removed.

Kmart closed in 2022, and most of its space has been empty since. In a June preview of the city's first review, the Key West Citizen named Publix, OfficeMax and Dollar Tree as the center's anchors. After that review, attorney Anthony Davila told the Key West Citizen that existing tenants who want to stay will get preference. He also said the smaller buildings labeled "anchors" on the plans are mid-size spaces with no tenants lined up yet. He put the cost at more than $20 million, compared with roughly $37 million for the Searstown project.

Where the Two Calendars Overlap

Taken one at a time, each schedule is easy to follow. Side by side, they show that both plazas are scheduled to be under construction at once for several years.

From fall 2027 through 2031, both of New Town's Publix-anchored centers are scheduled to have active work going on. The dates in the table are projections from the developer's side. Searstown's come from Smith's presentation to the commission, and Key Plaza's come from the construction plan filed with the city.

The city also puts a clock on the work. The Key Plaza schedule cites Section 108-248 of the city code. Under that section, a building permit expires if construction stays dormant for six months or more, or if the developer misses its planned inspections at 120-day intervals. Each new phase also needs its own new permit. So a long phased project still has to keep moving to keep its permits.

What the City Asked About the Driveways

The Development Review Committee does not approve or deny projects, but its review shows what city staff wants from the next version of Key Plaza. Ryan Stachurski, the city's multimodal coordinator, pointed to a 2023 FDOT safety audit that flagged the site's access points along North Roosevelt. He asked whether the developer would restrict some left turns, widen sidewalks and add bicycle parking, including for riders coming from the Crosstown Greenway on 12th Street. The Police Department asked Publix to work with the state on signal timing at the plaza's intersections. Fire officials asked how access and hydrants would be kept up across all four phases.

The developer was also asked about the plaza's overall layout. When asked whether the team had considered putting buildings up front on North Roosevelt and Kennedy with parking behind, Davila said an urban layout had not been considered. He said housing on the site had not been considered either. Housing came up at Searstown too. The commission approved that plan 6-1 in April 2025, and Commissioner Sam Kaufman voted no because it left out workforce housing. Kaufman noted that officials had talked for decades about apartments above Searstown, Overseas Market and Key Plaza.

One Errand Has Already Moved

The Searstown rebuild has already changed one New Town errand. The Monroe County Tax Collector announced on July 30 that its Searstown driver license office would stay open through Friday, August 7, 2026. Consolidated service was scheduled to start at noon on Thursday, August 13, at the Key West Main Office in the Harvey Government Center, 1200 Truman Avenue. The Tax Collector's office directory now lists driver license services at 1200 Truman Ave., Suite 101.

The Next Dates on the Key Plaza File

Key Plaza's approval path is posted on the city's Legistar file 26-5505. The Development Review Committee discussed the plan on June 25, 2026. The Planning Board postponed it on August 20 and approved it on September 17. The major development plan and conditional use then went on the City Commission agenda for November 5, as a resolution to approve redevelopment of about 190,925 square feet of retail at 2900, 3022 and 3026 North Roosevelt Boulevard and 900 to 924 Kennedy Drive. Revised plans dated September 25 are attached to the file, along with the trip generation report and the full construction schedule.

Publix's own timeline gives site plan approvals until January 29, 2027. Phase 1 design runs through August 2027, and permitting runs until October 16, 2027, when the Kmart building is scheduled to start coming down.

If you own a home near North Roosevelt and want to know how the next several years of Searstown and Key Plaza construction could affect your street, your daily routine or your plans for your property, I'm glad to go through it with you. Lori Langton has lived in Key West since 2002 and follows these projects closely. Schedule a free consultation, and we can go through the phases together.