Nixed plans for a Daphne development could be Spanish Fort’s gain as developers confirm sights for a new Publix Super Market might be shifting toward the Eastern Shore Centre.

Plans for a 45,600-square-foot Publix to be constructed near  TimberCreek have been debated for months in neighboring Daphne, but Councilman Gus Palumbo confirmed Tuesday negotiations have ceased.

“We had done the rezoning. It went through the Planning Commission and the City Council…so we were all dressed up and nowhere to go,” Palumbo said.

Officials with the Eastern Shore Centre had not returned phone calls seeking comment at press time, but an unspecified site near Belk was cited by Palumbo as a possible location.

Developer Jimmy Grodnick with JMG Realty LLC referred questions to his development partner in Atlanta, Raymond Herndon, with Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers. Herndon did not immediately return phone calls. Regency Centers is a national developer, owner and operator of grocery-anchored and community shopping centers.

“We were working on our site in Daphne, but it appears there could be something going on in Spanish Fort,” said Grodnick, noting his company will no longer be involved with the project outside of the TimberCreek proposal.

Spanish Fort Mayor Joe Bonner said a second supermarket serving the city would be “wonderful,” but he is personally unaware of any concrete plans at this time.

“We have not had anybody present any plans to us on any new supermarkets, but if they are considering the Eastern Shore Centre, I hope it works out,” Bonner said. “Whatever the competition brings to bear, we’d like to see it.”

Founded in 1930 in Winter Haven, Fla., by the late George W. Jenkins, Publix Super Markets Inc. is the largest employee-owned and one of the 10 largest volume supermarket chains in the United States. The publicly-traded company based in Lakeland, Fla., reported total retail sales of $23.9 billion in 2008, and employs more than 140,000. To date, 38 of the chain’s 1,005 locations are in Alabama.

Staff writer Sasha Heller contributed to this report.