Midtown Plaza Redevelopment

Midtown Plaza, at the SE corner of Bahia Vista and Tamiami Trail/US41 in the Arlington Park neighborhood, is just across Bahia Vista Street from our Alta Vista 'hood. Currently home to  a Starbucks, Massage Envy, Michaels On East, the old vacant Winn Dixie, (previously, Panera), and various other popular shops and services.

"WinnDixie" side of the property to be replaced with hotel, apartments, retail, and garage: 145 hotel rooms, 91 apartments, of which 23 will be priced "attainable" (at 120% of AMI).  (Starbucks to stay put, for now.)

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Planning Board rejected this project at their Sep 9, 2026 meeting.  See City Meetings;Planning Board 9/9 agenda to view site plan and staff reports, and video of meeting (about halfway thru, after other agenda items).  


This plan had been revised since the last DRC submission:  mainly, garage and apartment building rearranged.  Issues that local residents raised include the new entrance/exit added to East Ave, the dumpsters & truck loading zone sited on the SE corner nearest existing homes, insufficient parking spots, and -- as always -- traffic, on narrow Arlington Park neighborhood streets.


Next Step:  developer will probably return to Planning Board in future with a revised application.


This project received DRC signoff Jun 17.  Does not go thru City Commission process.

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Jan 21, 9am, City Hall:  DRC (Development Review Committee) Midtown Plaza project.  Resubmittal.  See City Agendas site for backup documents.  (DRC meetings are technical evaluations of details of planned project; public is welcome to listen but no public comments at this venue.) 


25-SP-10 (Third Submittal)  Midtown Plaza Redevelopment, 1299 S. Tamiami Trail: Application requesting Site Plan approval to redevelop an approximately 3.321± acre site zoned Commercial General District (CGD) with a Future Land Use designation of Urban Mixed Use. The redevelopment will replace approximately 45,860 square feet of commercial space with a 145-room hotel, 91-unit apartment building, 4,697 square feet of retail, and a three-story parking structure. The hotel and apartment building are utilizing the CGD height bonus pursuant to Section VI-503(l)(4) to allow each building to be up to 65 feet in height. The apartment building is utilizing the CGD residential intensity bonus pursuant to Section VI-503(l)(5), by providing 25 percent of the residential units as attainable to households having incomes at or below 120 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). 23 attainable housing units are proposed to be provided. Vehicular access will remain from Prospect Street, S. Tamiami Trail, and Bahia Vista Street.  (Rebecca Webster, AICP, Acting Development Review Chief Planner, Development Services)


On City e-docs page, search Application Number *25-SP-10* for documents.  Also, you can search Application Name = *Midtown* for associated documents including prior zoning and other applications that bear upon this application.
Past Meetings:  June 18 2025 DRC (Development Review Committee)
Plans were in the works as early as 2018 for potential redevelopment of this plaza.  General talk by the City has been of supporting redevelopment of aging shopping plazas surrounded by acres of surface parking lots, as mixed use, adding residential to the commercial, possibly including affordable or attainable housing. 
Separately, there had been an application for construction of a new, small building, out in the parking lot, for Starbucks, but now it appears that Starbucks is planned to relocate into the new retail space.