Reconstruction of the Venetian Isles Shopping Center at US 1 and Sample Road is set for March 2027, the New Pelican reported in September. In the same quarter, the city plans to start rebuilding Sample Road from Federal Highway east to the Intracoastal. That puts two construction projects at one intersection in early 2027. Even so, the plans filed so far are built so the corner keeps working. The new Publix goes up before the old one closes. The center's entrances stay open. The road work is mostly sidewalk, striping and resurfacing, and none of it is a full rebuild.
The start date matters less than the order the work happens in.
The new store goes up first
Brixmor Property Group owns the whole center. At a Planning & Zoning Board review, its representative, Rich Dippolito, laid out the phases in this order:
- A new Publix, built from the ground up. It is planned at about 56,500 square feet, near where Staples sits now. The current store, about 45,000 square feet, stays open until the new one is ready.
- The old Publix space is split up and leased again. It gets divided into smaller spaces for new tenants.
- Possible later work on the post office parcel. Brixmor says it is talking with the post office about that parcel. Nothing has been agreed.
Board members asked directly what would happen to the current Publix during construction. The applicant said the store would stay open while the new building goes up so there would be no gap in service. The applicant also said Petco and Dollar Tree, in Buildings B and C, plan to stay open during the work, and that every current entrance will stay open through construction.
The New Pelican's numbers are a little different: a 40,000-square-foot store now and a 57,000-square-foot store later. The paper also reports a new 2,100-square-foot liquor store, about 70,000 square feet of older retail to be torn down and a redesigned parking lot. Either way, the new store adds about 12,000 to 17,000 square feet, and it does so on a site where many existing shops are expected to keep running throughout.
Two of the center's largest tenants are still unaccounted for. The New Pelican lists T.J. Maxx, Staples, Petco and Dollar Tree as the major retailers. The public record covers Petco and Dollar Tree. It says nothing yet about whether T.J. Maxx and Staples will stay, move or leave, even though the new Publix is planned near the Staples space.
What the March 2027 date rests on
The site plan has not been approved. The Planning & Zoning Board took its look at the Venetian Isle preliminary site plan on September 1, 2026. Consulting city planner Dave Dixon told the board it was a preliminary review with no final action. The purpose was to list what Brixmor still needs to submit before a final application.
The list was specific. Board and staff comments covered:
- Clearer building elevations
- Truck-turning diagrams for deliveries
- Phasing and deliverables put in writing as conditions of final approval
- Answers on where pervious pavers go and how they tie into drainage
- Explanations for gaps in the required 8-foot walls next to homes
- Concerns about site lighting spilling onto neighbors
- Wheel stops, which are mostly missing from the plan and would need waivers
The Community Appearance Board added comments about how the facades fit together. It specifically noted a missing gable above the liquor store. Staff also reported that the plan shows about 18.4% landscaped or pervious area, compared with a typical standard of 25%. Staff said that shortfall reflects a tradeoff between parking and landscaping that keeps coming up on this site.
The plan has already changed once. At an Economic Development Committee meeting in March 2025, the early idea was to move Publix into three existing big-box spaces. By the 2026 review, it had become a new building constructed next to the operating store. The New Pelican reports the city's Development Review Committee has reviewed the site plan. So far, though, no final site-plan approval and no City Commission vote are in the public record, and no one has published a completion date.
Sample Road is on the same calendar
The city has won surtax funding for the construction phase of the Sample Road Improvement Project, from Federal Highway to the Intracoastal Waterway. The October 2026 city newsletter lists what the work includes:
- Shared-lane road markings for cars and bicycles
- Sidewalk and ADA improvements
- Fixes for the existing pedestrian crosswalks
- Minor drainage changes
- Milling, resurfacing and new striping
- Median cuts and intersection crossings
The city plans to put the project out for bids in October, with construction starting in the first quarter of 2027. That window overlaps the March 2027 reconstruction date at Venetian Isles, and the shopping center sits right where the road project begins at Federal Highway.
A Brixmor proposal from early 2025 also included pedestrian-oriented access, signage and bicycle and pedestrian improvements for the center. The new crosswalks and sidewalks on Sample Road would sit right outside those entrances. Neither public record says whether the two projects will share contractors or staging, so for now they are two separate jobs with overlapping timelines.
East of US 1, the clubhouse is already down
At the other end of the Sample Road corridor, a long-running Lighthouse Point landmark is already in the middle of being rebuilt. The Lighthouse Point Yacht Club clubhouse came down in mid-September after six decades of hosting the city's charity events, boaters and tennis players. It had been closed since 2022. Through that time, members still used the tennis courts, the pool area and outdoor dining.
The plan from Paterson Project Management for the site on NE 27th Court replaces the Old Florida building with a modern two-story clubhouse. It is planned with fine dining, a piano lounge, an outdoor tapas bar, banquet seating for 280, a gym, a spa and a rooftop terrace. The plan also includes a new tennis center and cafe, a pool complex and 21 townhomes. The 78-slip deep-water marina is not slated for change. The developer's agreement gives company president Terry Paterson 40 months to finish all construction on the site. Work on the first townhome building has to begin within 30 days of demolition. Some of the tennis courts were torn down the week before the clubhouse, and demolition was expected to take about three weeks.
The streets around the club are changing too. In August, the city approved a 1,300-foot sidewalk on NE 27th Terrace, from NE 39th Street to the Yacht Club entrance, to deal with pedestrian conditions there. The estimated cost is about $329,000, and the report did not give a construction schedule. Sooner than that, work on the 15 city-owned seawalls is expected to start in late October or early November. Eleven of them run along NE 39th Street, and others are on Lighthouse Drive and at the east end of NE 36th Street. The work covers concrete spall repair, refacing, crack sealing, partial cap replacement and filling voids behind the walls. Citywide tree trimming is also still underway, with flaggers and posted detours where crews are working.
This fall, before the 2027 work starts
The city's fall calendar comes well before any of the 2027 construction:
- Dan Witt Park Farmer's Market: Sundays October 11, November 8 and December 13, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Halloween at the Point: Thursday, October 22, 6 to 8 p.m., at Frank McDonough Park
- Mayor's Chess Challenge: Saturday, October 24, 9 to 11 a.m., at John Trudel Community Center
- Lighthouse A'Glow: Wednesday, December 2, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Frank McDonough Park
- Santa Around the Point: Sunday, December 20, 2 to 5 p.m.
Fall basketball moves to a November through December season on the newly renovated court at Frank McDonough Park. A little north on Federal Highway, Pepe's Cantina lists its Lighthouse Point location as coming soon and is hiring. WhatNow reported in late September that the restaurant is headed to The Shoppes at Beacon Light at 2410 N. Federal Highway, opening later this year or early next year. If that holds, it would open around the time the US 1 and Sample Road work begins.
For more than 35 years, Tim Singer has followed how projects like the Venetian Isles rebuild and the Yacht Club redevelopment change the streets around them. If you own near the US 1 and Sample Road corridor or along NE 27th Terrace and want to talk through what these timelines could mean for your property, our team is glad to share what we're seeing.