This empty lot is the planned site of a WaWa convenience store. Readers can see the Green Shutters restaurant, McDonald’s restaurant and the city water tower in the background. Photo by Terry Witt.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Williston City Manager Scott Lippmann and City Planner Jackie Gorman confirmed Thursday that the WaWa convenience store chain has its sights set on constructing a store at a vacant motel site off U.S. 27 in Williston.
But they said rumors that BluRock Commercial Development has signed a contract to build a Publix as the anchor store at the former Williston High School site off U.S. 27 isn’t true.
Regarding WaWa, the 800 store company (with 500 stores that sell gas) is expanding into Florida. The company is continuing negotiations with the owner of the former motel site across the street from Green Shutters restaurant.
Gorman said the company knows it is coming to Williston and doesn’t mind the city disclosing that fact. The store probably won’t occupy its future building for perhaps another two years.
WaWa’s website indicates three stores already operate in Ocala.
“I will grant you all the WaWa’s going in around here, are the new shiny penny, but they have a reputation of establishing very successful stores,” Lippmann said.
Lippmann said the company is expanding so rapidly that “We have to get cued up; we have to wait in line. I think it will be a draw on its own.”
As for Publix, Lippmann said a conceptual drawing of the future shopping center planned for the former school site was accidentally left on display by an employee of a developer in a back hallway of City Hall.
“It (the drawing) said Publix. There’s no contract at the moment with an anchor,” Lippmann said.
The drawing should have said pylon sign, not Publix, he said.
“The Publix thing; people would be turning handsprings” if a Publix store was definitely coming to Williston, Lippmann said.
BluRock has indicated it has plans to locate a “high end grocery store” on the west end of the shopping center as the anchor store. A secondary anchor would move into the other end of the future shopping center.
The BluRock development is one of a number of development projects planned in the city that haven’t been built.
Three permits have been granted for single family homes in the city; approval has been granted for a minor subdivision with four lots; the 44-unit Stonewall subdivision off Cemetery Road has been approved.
“We have a lot of potential growth. I’ll be happy when I see dirt turning,” Lippmann said.
Gorman is also working on plans to improve the looks of the storefronts, improve pedestrian access and improve parking in the city’s old business district across the street from the city’s two newest gems – Heritage Park and its Veterans Memorial, and the recently opened City Hall. She is working with a retired University of Florida architecture professor on designs for the storefronts.
The city’s Veterans Memorial at Heritage Park and its recently opened City Hall in the background are two of the city’s gems. The downtown business district is across the street from both facilities and needs some TLC to bring it back.
Lippmann said the city’s Community Development Agency would be a big part of bringing the old business district back to life. He said the city would like to make the storefronts look like old cracker style buildings in keeping with the character and charm of Williston.
He is also working with communications companies like Likwid to bring high speed internet to the city. High speed Internet is a fiber optic system providing “100 megabits synchronized” cyber power, he said. High speed internet would make the city more attractive to business and industry.
“It would make us more competitive with Gainesville,” Lippmann said.
The city has plenty to offer. When the city commissioned a feasibility study for a future hotel or motel a couple years back, the study indicated more than 100,000 people lived within a 15 mile radius of Williston.
“I was absolutely shocked,” Lippmann said.
The 2010 Census indicated 40,000 people live in Levy County.
But Lippmann pointed out that the southeast city limits of Williston are about a mile and a half from Marion County. The city is just 18 miles from Gainesville. Some of the Marion County and Gainesville growth has apparently moved within Williston’s 15 mile radius.
The county’s grants coordinator and tourism director, Tisha Whitehurst, has received county commission approval to write a grant that would fund a stadium roof over Horseman’s Park arena in Williston.
Williston has always had a horse culture. It is one of the attractions that may draw growth to Williston. Gorman said she looked at the 10 highest growth areas of the country and she found one thing they all had in common – young, affluent professionals are looking for areas like Williston to raise their children in a rural setting but with their homes close enough to a city to make a good income.
Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt
Posted June 20, 2019
