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An Orlando developer is asking for approval from the city of St. Petersburg to build a Dunkin’ Donuts with a drive-thru in the Downtown area.
An ordinary enough request in most places, but a number of local business owners and community members have come out strongly against the request, particularly on social media.
The proposed coffee and doughnut shop would be at 913 First Ave. North, on the site of a former Verizon Wireless store. Critics of the plan object to the fact that a Dunkin' Donuts would be a national chain in an area characterized by local retailers.
"Downtown is really the place we want to keep as local as possible," Keep St. Petersburg Local founder Olga Bof told the Tampa Bay Times.
She said an influx of national retailers would likely price local retailers out of the market eventually.
The developer, Acquisition Consultants, said the property has been on the market for eight months, without interest from local retailers, and that a Dunkin' Donuts would "create minimal adverse impacts, if any."
A similar request was approved by the city last summer, but that was for a bank at the location. That deal ultimately feel through.
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