Tesla Motors, the luxury all-electric automaker, intends to set up a small showroom and a charging station at St. Johns Town Center.
Tesla says on its website that the showroom is at 4663 River City Drive near Anthropologie and Altar’d State, although the St. Johns Town Center website doesn’t show it as a tenant.
Tesla, based in Palo Alto, Calif., has not responded to emails for comment.
However, the city is reviewing building-permit applications for a 2,058-square-foot showroom and a charging station at 4663 River City Drive, space 109.
Plans show the showroom location and the charging station behind it. The station is a conversion of parking spaces to an electrical vehicle charging area with six stations.
Tesla’s website says the showroom parking is most convenient in front of its display or behind Anthropologie in the Dick’s Sporting Goods parking lot.
The site invites people to schedule a test drive.
The construction plan shows the space will include a showroom, with space for at least one car, along with storage and office space. No contractor is listed for the estimated $65,000 build-out of an existing tenant space.
Tesla’s website refers to a “pop-up” center at St. Johns Town Center. Fortune.com reported in May that Tesla’s pop-up stores “bring the Model S to where the wealthy play.”
However, Fortune’s report focused on mobile container stores, which the site says are made up of two shipping containers with steel beams between them and a canvas roof that can fit on a flatbed truck and be unfolded to double its size in a few hours.
The site plan for the St. Johns Town Center store shows an in-line store. A Town Center spokeswoman did not respond to an email Tuesday afternoon.
Teslamotors.com also reports that a service center is “coming soon” to Jacksonville, but does not say where.
Tesla says it has a supercharger station at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets. It says it also has two Tesla connectors at the Four Points by Sheraton Jacksonville Beachfront at Jacksonville Beach.
Gate to build at River City Marketplace
Gate Petroleum Co. is expanding into the River City Marketplace trade area.
Jacksonville-based Gate bought more than 3.5 acres along Airport Center Drive in September 2014 and has filed plans with the city to build a convenience store and 20 fueling positions on the site.
Construction is scheduled to begin in December for an opening in June.
Prosser Inc. is the civil engineer.
Gate has been adding stores around the area, including plans to buy and develop the 400 block of Park Street in Downtown’s Brooklyn area.
Home2 Suites planned near JIA
A Home2 Suites by Hilton is in review for a site near Jacksonville International Airport.
Home2 Suites, the newest brand to Hilton Worldwide, is a mid-tier, extended-stay, all-suite hotel aimed at the economic traveler.
Home2 Suites hotels comprise studio and one-bedroom units and are pet-friendly. Features include a full kitchen, a media/working zone, an integrated fitness and laundry room, and a business zone of complimentary high-speed Internet access and wireless printing. There’s also a pet play area.
Home2 Suites by Hilton has 30 hotels open and more under construction. Four are in development in Florida in Gainesville, Lake City, Tallahassee and Orlando.
Peachtree Hotel Group owns the 2.29 acres of vacant land where the 116-room, four-story project is planned.
Plans filed with a mobility-fee application show the hotel site at Ranch Road and Tradeport Drive, next to the Hyatt Place Jacksonville Airport.
The hotel is designed at 65,300 square feet. The mobility fee is calculated at $136,449. That fee is the cost for a new development based upon the link between land development and transportation. The certificates generally are valid for a year.
Jimmy John’s to open in Regency area
The Regency area, a market in flux, could be gaining a well-known tenant –– Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches.
The city is reviewing a permit application for a build-out for Jimmy Johns at 9444 Arlington Expressway, across from Regency Square Mall. The address is in the Regency Pointe shopping center, next to T-Mobile.
Dakenna Development Inc. is the contractor for the 1,760-square-foot tenant improvement, estimated at a job cost of $177,000.
It will join the dozen Jimmy John’s shops already operating in Duval County.
Market vacancy rates drop year-over-year
The CBRE Inc. real-estate firm’s preliminary look at the third-quarter market found lower vacancy rates in the office, warehouse/industrial and retail markets.
Office vacancy rates fell from 19.8 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to 19.3 percent a year later. Rates ranged from a high of 45.7 percent in Arlington to a low of 5.5 percent in Mandarin. The Downtown Central Business District vacancy rate was 23.2 percent, while the suburban rate was 17.6 percent. Meanwhile, overall rental rates rose.
The warehouse/distribution vacancy rate fell from 9.6 percent to 8.3 percent over the year.
The highest rate was 16.7 percent at the Beaches and lowest was 4 percent in Westside.
Rental rates were about the same overall.
The retail vacancy rate fell from 10 percent in 2014 to 9.2 percent over the year. Regency posted the highest vacancy rate at 12.2 percent, while St. Augustine was the lowest at 3 percent. Overall, rental rates dropped.
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