Shops planned near Sugarmill

Developers want to build the strip mall on Cypress Boulevard. Tentative plans call for a Kash n' Karry and an Eckerd drug store.

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 30, 2000

SUGARMILL WOODS -- It was the surrounding acres of untouched land, overgrown with grass and trees, that drew Phyllis Broughton to Sugarmill Woods in the mid 1980s.

Now she finds herself torn over the news that a developer is planning a strip mall, anchored by a Kash n' Karry supermarket, in the 18 acres facing the main Sugarmill Woods entrance at Cypress Boulevard and U.S. 19.

"It would be nice to know that we have something and we don't have to travel so far to go shopping," Broughton said. "But on the other hand, I like the way it looks (now)."

"Everything is being built up around us," she said. "When I moved here, everything was country, and now we're kind of losing that."

The preliminary plans for the 107,800-square-foot strip mall include a 38,000-square-foot Kash n' Karry, a liquor store and plenty of retail space for other shops, county Community Development Director Chuck Dixon said.

The plans also show a 10,900-square-foot Eckerd drug store and a 4,000-square foot gas station in separate buildings nearby, he said.

Although Kash n' Karry and Eckerd are mentioned by name on the plans, officials from those companies did not confirm their intentions to open stores at the proposed Sugarmill Station Shopping Center.

Because the strip mall is planned for land that is already zoned for general commercial use, Dixon said, project developer Golden Florida Management would not need to go through public hearings to get approval.

But the project will need a range of permits from the county and several state agencies, a process that project engineer Neal Hiler expects will take three or four months.

Hiler said once the permits are in hand, the developer will be ready to start construction, which he expects will take about seven months.

Golden Florida developer Mike Murray, of Longwood, was out of town Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

Without a doubt, Sugarmill Woods residents say a strip mall at their doorstep would be convenient. As it is now, the community's estimated 6,000 residents have to drive at least five miles north on U.S. 19 to Homosassa Springs to get groceries and prescription drugs.

"It's a pretty good haul," resident Dave Sweeney said. "It would be nice to have other options."

"We're growing by leaps and bounds," added resident Norm Wagy. "This would be handy for all of the new residents."

Wagy just isn't sure about developer Murray's assertion in other reports that the strip mall will be "beautiful."

"I'm anxious to see how that's manifested," he said with a chuckle.

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