MIAMI-On the heels of Publix’s decision to locate a new store at18Biscayne in downtown Miami, Whole Foods Market has unveiled plansto open an organic grocery store to serve the area. Whole FoodsMarket will open a new store as part of the Metropolitan Miamicomplex at the intersection of SE 3rd Avenue and SE 2nd St.

Tim Weller, vice president for MDM Development, the developerbehind The Met, says Whole Foods’ decision to open its first-everdowntown Miami store “speaks volumes to the quality of retailerthat Metropolitan Miami will attract.” Downtown Miami residentswill have to wait, however, until late 2013 for the doors toopen.

This isn’t the first time Whole Foods Market has made a decisionfor downtown Miami. Lyle Stern, a broker at the Miami Beach-basedKoniver Stern Group, the exclusive retail leasing representative ofMetropolitan Miami, tells GlobeSt.com that Whole Foods first inkeda deal at the Met in 2004—but backed out when the economyshifted.