After a brutal EF-3 tornado ripped apart its nearly finished building and stalled the project for more than a year, the long-awaited Publix at Avenir Town Center is finally ready to open its doors, giving Palm Beach Gardens residents a full-service supermarket much closer to home.
Store Opening Details
The new Publix at 12535 Northlake Blvd is scheduled to open at 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 21, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned just before shoppers are allowed in, according to ClickOrlando. Local listings put the store at about 48,388 square feet, and it is expected to feature a drive-thru pharmacy along with an adjacent liquor store. The layout will follow Publix’s newer, modern format, with wider aisles, self-checkout lanes, and expanded deli and bakery counters.
How Avenir’s Publix Was Set Back
The original Publix building at Avenir Town Center was nearly complete when an EF-3 tornado linked to Hurricane Milton tore through the community in October 2024, heavily damaging the supermarket and nearby homes, according to CBS12. What was left of the structure had to be demolished, which pushed the project back by more than a year. The outlet described the replacement store as a roughly 50,000 square foot location.
Official Weather Survey
The National Weather Service damage survey rated the Wellington, Loxahatchee, and Avenir tornado as an EF-3 and noted that “a large portion of the roof collapsed” on the recently completed Publix building in Avenir, underscoring how hard the storm hit the town center site. The report lists multiple structures destroyed or suffering major damage across the community as the tornado crossed Northlake Boulevard. The full survey is available from the National Weather Service.
Avenir’s Mini Downtown
Avenir Town Center is being built out as a walkable, mixed-use hub for the fast-growing community, with Publix listed among roughly 20 retail and restaurant tenants planned for the project, according to the Avenir Town Center. For many residents, the new supermarket is expected to cut down on grocery runs to shopping centers outside the neighborhood and to serve as a key anchor for the rest of the town center’s businesses.
What To Expect At Opening
Publix’s newer stores typically roll out the chain’s current slate of amenities, and local coverage says the Avenir location will be no exception, with features from wider aisles to self-checkout lanes and the expanded deli and bakery options shoppers now expect, per ClickOrlando. For Avenir residents who watched their nearly finished grocery store get torn apart by last year’s storm, seeing the lights come on at Publix in May will be a very visible sign that the neighborhood’s rebound is finally taking hold.
