Plans are unfolding for a large retail center on pasture land at the corner of Westclox Street and State Road 29, on the northern edge of the agriculturally driven town. The project — believed to be a Walmart.
Immokalee residents appear to overwhelmingly favor the prospects of a major “big box” store – rumored to be a Walmart – establishing a large footprint in the community.
Collier County’s Growth Management Division held a formal public information meeting on the proposal January 13 and over 500 Immokaleans showed up to voice support for the development. So many people, in fact, the room scheduled for the event could not contain them all and the meeting was moved to larger facilities.
The Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency’s (CRA) Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard last week about the proposal and committee members and members of the public had plenty of questions and plenty of opinions about the idea.
“I would say 99 percent of the residents (at the Monday meeting) were in favor of the proposals,” said Immokalee CRA Executive Director Bradley Muckel. “They cheered loudly when the presentation turned to creating 300 jobs.”
Barron Collier Investments, a subdivision of the Barron Collier Companies, has applied to Collier County’s Growth Management Division, specifically its Planning and Zoning Department, for a zoning change that will allow “a large format retailer” to be built on the corner of Westclox Road and State Road 29 at the northern edge of Immokalee across from New Market Road and just south of and across SR 29 from the Isabel Collier Reid Medical Center campus.
The request is to expand across SR 29 a commercial district now on the east side of SR 29 to include nearly 25 acres north of Westclox for what is described as a 162,000 square foot large format retailer.
Perfect addition for Immokalee. Now they won’t have to drive to Lehigh.