South St. Pete may soon be home to one of the area’s most popular grocery stores.

Earlier today, the St. Petersburg City Council approved a lease and development agreement with Sugar Hill Group to redevelop Tangerine Plaza at 1794 22nd Street South into 115 affordable apartments and 10,000 square feet of commercial space, which will include a grocery store at least 3,000 square feet in size.

During the City Council hearing, Rev. Louis Murphy, Sr. of Sugar Hill Group revealed that the development team is in discussions with Sarasota-based Detwiler's Farm Market to occupy the grocery store at Tangerine Plaza. However, no lease has been signed yet.

“It’s a great supermarket with fresh food and fresh meats at affordable prices,” said Rev. Murphy. “It would be a great plus to our community. People travel from as far as Clearwater and New Port Richey to go to the store in the Bradenton area. So again, we are super excited about that.”

Murphy added, “We need to stimulate the economy; we need to create foot traffic. We need to bring people that have a means to be able to support what we are trying to do with the redevelopment of the Deuces.”

The first Detwiler’s Farm Market debuted in 2002 on Palmer Boulevard in Sarasota. The grocery store currently operates five other locations in Venice, Bradenton, and Sarasota.

The family-owned store is more of a “farm market” than a grocery store. They stock as much local produce and meat as possible and try to keep it organic when available.

They have a full-service butcher shop, a seafood shop, Amish-style deli, meats and cheeses, natural grocery section, a wellness section, and a farmhouse bakery, and an old-fashioned ice cream shop serving Yoder’s Southern Creamery.

Detwiler’s also offers fresh-made sushi and made-to-order subs, acai bowls, smoothies, and farm bowls.

According to its website, the Detwiler family prides itself on “strong Christian values” and therefore are closed on Sundays.

Although discussions with Detwiler’s are very preliminary, the inclusion of the local grocer in the development would most certainly bring much needed attention and business to the south St. Pete shopping center that has struggled for years.

Sugar Hill Group is expected to break ground on the redevelop of Tangerine Plaza within 18 months and complete construction within three years.