CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — New data from Metro Forecasting Models shows the Burnt Store Road area could support a neighborhood shopping center 15 years earlier than previously expected.

Watch Fox 4’s Alex Orenczuk report on commercial development potential on Burnt Store Road:

Growth data shows early demand for shopping center on Burnt Store Road

The growth presentation at the Nov. 12 Charlotte County Commissioners meeting stated the county’s population jumped 5.2% from June 2023 to March 2024, with over 5,000 new housing units permitted and constructed since June 2023.

“We feel like we’re growing really fast, but to see the actual numbers bear out, it can be a bit shocking,” said Shaun Cullinan, Planning & Zoning Official.

The report noted a “demand for neighborhood centers include a new one in Babcock Ranch between 2030-35 and another one in the Burnt Store Road corridor in 2030.”

Previous Metro Forecasting Models suggested the Burnt Store area could not support a neighborhood shopping center until 2045.

“They are different from what we talked about last year, because that data is a pin point in time,” said Cullinan “This isn’t a one and done type of model, you consistently feed it and do updates with it every six months, every year so the more information it gets the more refined it is and can better project what the future needs are going to be.”

For some residents in the Burnt Store Area, even 2030 is not soon enough. For months members of the Burnt Store Corridor Coalition have voiced their need for commercial space to be developed in the area, including a grocery store and a medical center.

Cullinan said he believes at least some of their needs will be met by the 2030 time frame.

Alex Orenczuk.

“I think it will have that [a neighborhood shopping center], now maybe not all of the medical services that they are looking for because just like anywhere else we can’t force somebody to put a specific use onto a property,”Cullinan told Fox 4. “We do see that the rooftops are coming and the rooftops bring people that those businesses need. If the rooftops and people were there now then they would have already been building.”

Bill and Laura Fischer of Pirate Harbor have been trying to build commercial space on their 40 acre property on Burnt Store Road. The couple said their goal is to bring retail and medical services to the area, but the project is moving slowly. They told Fox 4 that the county requested a planned development rezoning application, which could take up to a year to complete.