"You want to create a great tenant mix, where people are going to come, stay, walk, shop and have coffee." Vicky Anthony, Kimco Realty's vice president of leasing for its southern portfolio, told the Tampa Bay Times this in August about Highland Lakes Plaza at 33561 U.S. Highway 19 N.
Kimco has delivered most of that list. A shopper can come, stay and shop, and the coffee is inside Barnes & Noble's B&N Café. What's still missing is a meal. In the same Times story, a Palm Harbor resident who stops in twice a week for Trader Joe's and Barnes & Noble said there is "nowhere to hang out in the plaza." Kimco's own tenant list shows a single restaurant space, Costa Vida, and it lists Dec. 9 as the day it starts serving. For lunch before then, head across the parking lot to Coral Landings.
A Plaza Built Around a Grocer, Twice
The center has been rebuilt around a grocery store before. Here is how it got from its first anchor to its second, as the Tampa Bay Times laid it out:
- March 14, 1979: Highland Plaza opens with Publix as its anchor. A photo lab, travel agency, hardware store, beauty parlor, florist and bank surround it.
- Spring 1992: Publix moves next door to Coral Landing. Stein Mart takes its place, and Palm Harbor Bookstore, Michaels, Orangetheory Fitness, Famous Footwear and Hallmark join over the years.
- 2020: Stein Mart files for Chapter 11. The anchor space then sits empty for four years.
- January 2024: Kimco Realty buys the center and spends millions on lighting, landscaping and new signage pylons along U.S. 19.
Trader Joe's opened in the old Stein Mart space on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, at 33597 U.S. Highway 19 N., and the Times covered the opening-day crowd. The paper later called it the northernmost Trader Joe's in Tampa Bay. Anthony said the grocer was drawn to Palm Harbor partly because it sits far from the chain's other stores.
Kimco then had about 21,000 square feet left to fill. "Who would be a great complement to Trader Joe's?" Anthony asked, and the answer was a bookstore. Barnes & Noble opened at 33591 U.S. Highway 19 N. on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. So the plaza that lost its grocer in 1992 has a grocer again, and the bookstore slot once held by Palm Harbor Bookstore has a bookstore again.
What the Floor Plan Says About Staying
Kimco's Highland Lakes Plaza site plan lists every tenant with its square footage. Read as one list, it shows what a visit there is built around.
| Tenant | Square feet | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Barnes & Noble | 21,943 | Books, browsing, café |
| Michaels | 18,780 | Crafts |
| Trader Joe's | 13,045 | Groceries |
| J.Crew Factory | 6,300 | Clothing |
| Famous Footwear | 4,750 | Shoes |
| Orangetheory Fitness | 3,105 | Fitness |
| IVX Health | 2,000 | Health services |
| Costa Vida | 1,960 | Restaurant |
| Anna's Massage Therapy | 1,895 | Wellness |
| Perspire Sauna Studio | 1,750 | Wellness |
| Code Ninjas | 1,250 | Kids' coding classes |
Including the two open units, the spaces on that plan add up to roughly 79,500 square feet. Costa Vida's 1,960 square feet is the only space set aside for a restaurant.
Most of the "stay" Kimco built comes from wellness and services rather than meals. Perspire Sauna Studio took over Marathon Grille, a vacant restaurant. Code Ninjas, a coding and STEM franchise for kids ages 5 to 14, replaced Allied Healthcare. J.Crew Factory is taking the former Hallmark storefront. That gives the plaza plenty to fill an hour: a sauna session, a class at Orangetheory, a kid at a coding lesson, a parent with a coffee in the bookstore café. Once that hour is over, there's still nowhere on this side to sit down for lunch.
Lunch Is Across the Parking Lot
Coral Landings, where Publix moved in 1992, fills that gap. The Publix at Coral Landings Shopping Center is at 33343 U.S. Highway 19 N. and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The sit-down options are on that side. CAVA opened at 33163 U.S. Highway 19 N. on March 6, 2025, and its Coral Landings location page lists dine-in service. Chipotle and Einstein Bros. Bagels are also in Coral Landings, next to PetSmart, Plato's Closet and a Wells Fargo branch.
The two centers share a stretch of U.S. 19 and have done different jobs since 1992. Highland Lakes is where the errands are, and Coral Landings is where you can stop for a meal. A morning bagel at Einstein Bros. before Trader Joe's, or lunch at CAVA after Barnes & Noble, covers both in one trip off the highway.
December 9 and the 1,960 Square Feet
That will change on one corner this winter. Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill is moving into the former Pizza Hut space at 33505 U.S. Highway 19 N. The Palm Harbor-Dunedin Beacon describes it as a fast-casual chain with 94 locations, mostly in the western U.S. Citing the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the Beacon reported that Palm Harbor will be the chain's first Florida location.
Costa Vida's Palm Harbor location page gives Dec. 9, 2026, as the date it starts serving customers. That puts a restaurant back on the Highland Lakes side of the lot for the last few weeks of holiday shopping, in a space that was a Pizza Hut before Kimco's re-tenanting.
A November Saturday, Using Both Sides
Until Dec. 9, here is one way to string the two plazas together this month.
- 11 a.m. at Barnes & Noble. The Palm Harbor store's event calendar lists a Saturday Storytime at 11 a.m. on Nov. 7 and shows more events on the weekends of Nov. 14–15, Nov. 21–22 and Nov. 28–29. The store's café is in the same building.
- Trader Joe's next door. It's a few storefronts down at 33597 U.S. Highway 19 N.
- Lunch across the lot. CAVA, Chipotle or Einstein Bros. Bagels at Coral Landings, then Publix if the Trader Joe's list didn't cover everything.
- Dessert up the highway. D'Lites Ice Creamery opened Oct. 1 at 35222 U.S. Highway 19 N. in Alderman Plaza, the Beacon reported, and its co-owner confirmed the opening to the paper.
Once Costa Vida is serving, lunch moves back across the lot and the route gets shorter.
The Two Open Doors
Highland Lakes Plaza isn't finished filling up. Kimco expects three more leases with large national companies to open through 2027, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Anthony told the paper the center is focused on strong national chains because "the blend of locals and nationals demands a higher rent, because their sales are stronger," while also calling local mom-and-pop shops "obviously ideal."
Residents interviewed for that story had their own wish list. One said she'd like local juiceries and coffee shops like the small independent shops in Dunedin. Another, a longtime shopper who went to Stein Mart, said she misses Hallmark. Kimco's site plan currently shows two available spaces: a 1,000-square-foot former nail salon and a 1,750-square-foot unit.
Plazas like Highland Lakes and Coral Landings shape what a Saturday looks like on your side of U.S. 19, and they come up often when neighbors think about where they want to live next. If you're weighing a move nearby, or just curious how changes along the corridor affect homes around it, Danna Goss is happy to talk it through over a coffee at the B&N Café. Let's Connect.
