Diabetes and Neuropathy Treatment in Bayshore Gardens, FL

It seems Chick-fil-A can’t get enough Bradenton.

Five months after opening its fourth restaurant in Manatee County, the Atlanta-based chicken restaurant has plans to build a fifth in the Bradenton area.

The location? The Bayshore Gardens Shopping Center at 6010 14th St. W., according to paperwork filed with Manatee County Development Services.

The restaurant would be constructed where a now-closed Duff’s Buffet stands. The buffet closed in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Neighbors include Sonic Drive-In, Taco Bell, and anchors Publix, Target and TJ Maxx.

The Bayshore Gardens Shopping Center was built in 1992. Publix Super Markets Inc. bought the 19.5-acre shopping center for $42 million in 2016.

Chick-fil-A didn’t respond to a request for information on its planned Bayshore Gardens restaurant.

“Chick-fil-A opens a limited number of restaurants each year. While we receive hundreds of suggestions from customers on where they would like to see a new Chick-fil-A restaurant, the real estate team at Chick-fil-A, Inc. is responsible for selecting all new locations based on corporate goals for expansion in specifically targeted markets and other relevant business factors,” the company says on its website.

▪ Bradenton’s newest Chick-fil-A opened in May at 4311 Manatee Ave. W.

▪ The oldest Chick-fil-A in Manatee County, the one at 5206 73rd Lane East in the Creekwood Crossing shopping center, opened in 2001. But it wasn’t the first. That honor went to the one that opened in 1977 in the food court of the now defunct DeSoto Square.

▪ The Chick-fil-A at 4573 14th St. W. opened in 2013 and the one at 5489 University Parkway opened in 2020.

▪ Nathan Hoeksema, a Bradenton Christian School graduate, started working at Chick-fil-A in 1993 and now owns the 14th Street West and Manatee Avenue West franchises.

▪ In 1967, S. Truett Cathy founded and opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Shopping Center.

▪ There are now more than 2,600 Chick-fil-A restaurants in 47 states, Washington, D.C., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Tampa City Council will once again consider a high-rise development on Bayshore Boulevard. The previous hearing drew a packed house as the community pushed back on the idea. Now, the developer is back at the table with a revised plan. The plan is to build a high rise on the property of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, just north of Bay to Bay Boulevard. The synagogue would sell part of its property to The Related Group for the project.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Tampa City Council will once again consider a high-rise development on Bayshore Boulevard.

The previous hearing drew a packed house as the community pushed back on the idea. Now, the developer is back at the table with a revised plan.

The plan is to build a high rise on the property of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, just north of Bay to Bay Boulevard. The synagogue would sell part of its property to The Related Group for the project.

Last year council voted no after hearing pushback from community members. This time, the developer has a different plan.

Jake Cremer, a lawyer representing The Related Group, explained the key differences in this proposal.

“There are a lot of differences, so we’ve gone down from about 29 stories to 26,” Cremer said.

He explained the new proposal scaled back the size of the building to 42 units. The original plan had 50. He said they are also removing their waiver requests, so this proposal meets what is already allowed by code.

“The other big difference is, we're proposing an agreement with the city to contribute $150,000 to Fred Ballpark, which is about a block away,” Cremer said.

That money would go to park improvements. He said they also plan to fix up other aspects of the neighborhood, like resurfacing several streets and adding some lighting.

Some neighbors are still pushing back. Paula Perry is the vice president of the Tampa Garden Club. They are right next door to where the building would be built.

Perry said the building does not fit in with the neighborhood.

“This neighborhood of Bayshore Gardens is surrounded by townhomes and low-density housing, and it is just out of scale with the entire neighborhood,” she said.

Perry worries it would hurt business at the Garden Club since most of their revenue comes from the money they make while holding events or weddings. She said they will lose that if the building goes up.

“Can you imagine the shadows that would cast over, the noise, the views?" she said.

We reached out to Congregation Rodeph Shop for an interview but have not heard back. If council decides to move forward with this project, there will still need to be a second hearing.

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A continued westward shift in Hurricane Idalia’s track on Tuesday was favorable for Bradenton and Manatee County, which are now farther removed from the cone of uncertainty.

But the region is still set to experience major effects as Idalia powers through the Gulf of Mexico. Idalia is anticipated to become a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in the vicinity of Apalachee Bay in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday.

Locally, four to six feet of storm surge is expected in coastal areas, made even more dangerous by already high tides.

Other local threats from the storm include sustained 30-40 mph winds with gusts up to 65 mph, three to six inches of anticipated rainfall and the possibility of tornadoes.

Tropical storm conditions could arrive by Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said.

In a Tuesday afternoon press conference, public safety officials urged Manatee County residents to evacuate from coastal and low-lying areas while it is still possible.

“If you are going to evacuate, do it now before it gets dark,” Emergency Management Chief Steve Litschauer said.

Local leaders also reminded people to remain inside their homes until the storm has passed.

Manatee officials will provide updates when it is safe to drive on the roads.

Combined with the high tide, Hurricane Idalia poses a significant flooding threat in the Bradenton area.

“Please do not be a disaster tourist or a hurricane tourist. Don’t play like a weather guy. Leave that to experts and stay off of flooded roads,” said Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge.

“We do not know exactly when or what the storm is going to do. We’re worried about flooding,” Litschauer added. “The majority of that surge and flood comes after the eye of the storm has gone by.”

Despite an evacuation order that affects an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people, Manatee officials said just over 300 people had taken advantage of the county’s three emergency shelters.

Throughout the storm, Manatee County residents can call 311 to contact staff for up-to-date information on road closures, power outages, evacuation orders and more.

Always dial 911 during an emergency.

Tuesday morning, Bradenton residents were bracing for the storm and weighing whether they needed to evacuate.

Public safety officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for all residents in Level A, including all mobile home parks throughout the county, on Monday. A voluntary evacuation order is in place for Level B.

But some residents in the mandatory evacuation zone were still debating whether to leave.

Arnie Moshier, 61, who lives on Riverview Boulevard along the Manatee River, said he is concerned about the potential storm surge. Around noon, high tide brought the Manatee River to the brim of the seawall.

“This street has been flooding quite a bit this summer,” said Moshier, who took precautionary measures by relocating his 45-foot boat to a nearby slip and removing furniture from his dock.

Moshier plans to ride the storm out at home, but he said he will place a car up the street to evacuate if floodwaters begin to enter his house.

Hailey and Thomas McCoy also live in the Riverview Boulevard area, and while the pre-storm flooding worried them, they said they also plan to shelter in place at home.

“The problem is high tide right now. The flooding is the main concern. We’ll be OK, but the whole street is under water right now,” said Hailey, 43.

In Bayshore Gardens, a group of mobile home park residents stood ready to assist first responders after Idalia has passed.

Jim and Judy Brunett are members of a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), which works closely with Manatee County to evaluate storm damage and search for disaster victims.

“This is our home. This park is our extended family,” Jim, 80, said when asked why they decided to get involved with the organization. “It’s something we can do.”

Tuesday afternoon, the Brunetts were preparing to evacuate from their home at Trailer Estates Mobile Home Park to a nearby hotel. When the storm has passed, they will return to search the area.

As Idalia’s outer bands arrived with rain, members of the Florida National Guard worked to install a “Tiger Dam” — a flexible, inflatable flood barrier — around the perimeter of Manatee Memorial Hospital.

Tuesday, the mandatory evacuation signs were up on Anna Maria Island and the public parking lots were closed ahead of Idalia.

But residents kept coming to Manatee Beach and Coquina Beach to fill sandbags.

“We live 100 yards from the bay and two miles from the beach, so we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Carl Hickel as he shoveled sand at Manatee Beach. “This will be my first hurricane. If it floods, it floods. It is what it is.”

Tyler Pullen, who lives near Warners Bayou, was also filling sandbags at Manatee Beach.

“We are not on the good side of the storm and we have a big tide tomorrow. It’s all about timing and the surge,” Pullen said.

Mike and Jenny Beehler were just about the only people walking along the surf at Manatee Beach.

The Beehlers were visiting from Minnesota and Jenny was using a metal detector, looking for whatever might be buried there.

Mostly bottlecaps, Jenny said of what she was finding.

“We’re here just for the day to see my friend and we figured we would get out before it gets too close,” Mike Beehler said.

The Beehlers are considering buying a house in the Bradenton area. The last time they were in town was after Hurricane Ian passed through.

Jamie Christian of Cortez was at the Coquina Beach sandbag area.

“I’ve never seen it this quick,” Christian said of the rising waters.

“Good luck with everything,” Christian told others at the sandbag point as she prepared to leave.

Susan O’Neill and Kelly Gross of the Anna Maria Island Beach Cafe and some of their staff were finishing storm preparations Tuesday morning.

“We shut down at 5 p.m. Monday,” O’Neill said. “We wanted to give our staff time to get their homes ready. We will be closed all day today and all day Wednesday.”

At A.P. Bell Fish Company, 4600 124th St. W., Cortez, Karen Bell said operations closed there at noon Tuesday, and that all fishing boats were safely moored.

Bell said that with a full moon and high tide, she would not rest easy until Idalia had moved north well west of the Bradenton area.

“We’re closing at noon to let everyone get ready,” Bell said.

This story was originally published August 29, 2023, 1:21 PM.

When realtor and homeowner Stacy Brown read the call for a hip person to remodel a midcentury modern home, she raised her hand.

March 10, 2023

Back in 2021, we published an article called “Six Sarasota Tourist Attractions From the Past.” In it, writer Robert Plunket included Bradenton’s Bayshore Gardens neighborhood, which opened in 1956, for its come-hither call to those fwho wanted to live in a midcentury modern, master-planned paradise. But the article also highlighted Bayshore Gardens’ more recent fall from grace and concluded with a challenge from Plunket: “I’ve found it odd that it has never really caught on as a place for hip people who want a nice little midcentury house to restore. But it still could.”

He was right. It could. Realtor Stacy Brown, for example, bought a nice little midcentury house on Florida Avenue and restored it, and now it’s so cute, even her neighbors across the street say they found their house a more attractive buy since it faced hers.

Brown also added a small office building on her property. She owns a boutique brokerage called Florida Life and specializes in manufactured housing.

Bayshore Gardens is located on Sarasota Bay in Manatee County between Bradenton and Sarasota, roughly two miles north of the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. The 3,200-acre neighborhood has its own taxing district, Brown explains. “It’s like Disney that way. We pay in roughly $400 a year, which goes directly to Bayshore Gardens Park and Recreation District. That gives us exclusive access to a Junior Olympic-size pool and clubhouse, with a marina and a boat ramp.”

When Bayshore Gardens was first built, the amenity-rich living was a huge selling point. The area continues to include all its original perks—like a playground, picnic pavilions with barbecue grills, a ball field and a fishing pier with a cleaning station. A marina with a private boat ramp along with a recreation hall is available to residents at reduced rates, and there are clubs like the Yacht Club, Garden Club and Woodchoppers Club, among others.

Brown’s home is a Queen Palm model, one of seven model homes built in the master-planned community in the late ’50s. When Brown purchased it for $165,000 in 2018, the home was in need of repair and care. “It was cheap, but scary looking,” she says.

“I needed to find a place I could afford. I always like driving through Bayshore Gardens and I love midcentury modern style,” she says. “The house was a rental and they just didn’t maintain it. I could see the whole vision as soon as I saw it. That’s the artist in me.” With roughly $60,000, she set about putting it right, with a new roof and air conditioning and an extensive terrazzo floor rehab after she found an inch of the precious stuff behind the stove, peeking out from beneath a sad white tile job. It took a year or so but felt longer. “It was the worst, but it was the best,” she says. “I delved into creativity.” Brown is originally from St. Louis; this is her first Bradenton home.

The fact it came with a water well cinched the deal for her. An avid gardener (she used to be a florist at The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort in the ’80s), she knew lots of water would be needed to grow her tomatoes, green beans, sugar snap peas, kale, beets, broccoli, parsley, leeks, lettuces, radishes and herbs. “It’s very ‘florific’ back here,” she says. Her lucky neighbors, who all know her, are regular recipients of her bounty. She’s also a notary, serving much of the neighborhood.

Other than the little slice of Eden that sweetens the streetscape, she added a bench on the front side of the home for passersby.

Some residents were angry about what Plunket wrote about their neighborhood being a bit shabby, but not Brown.

“I think what he wrote was true,” she says. “Maybe it’ll be a slow transition, but I’m here to be an inspiration and hope that others will start to see the value in the neighborhood. It’s a working-class neighborhood and the kids actually still play outside and ride their bikes. They’re good kids. I’ve washed off a couple of skinned knees in my day. It’s my own little corner of paradise.”