Construction could start in July on the 416-unit Palm Bay Club apartments in Flagler Center.
The city is reviewing site plans for the community, which will be developed by Fort Family Investments on almost 22 acres along Gran Bay Parkway. The site is between Interstate 95 and Gran Bay Parkway West.
Engineering plans show 416 units among 11 apartment buildings and five carriage houses.
Abe Fort, director of development for Fort Family Investments, said the units will comprise 179 one-bedroom, 189 two-bedroom and 48 three-bedroom units. He said rental rates have not been determined and a total investment is not yet finalized.
It will be the Fort group’s eighth area apartment community.
Palm Bay Club Rental Community Two LLC paid almost $7.1 million for the property in January, buying it from FDG Flagler Land LLC.
Fort said he hopes to break ground in mid- to late July and completion could be in 20 months, although no timetable has been decided. The civil engineer is Abbey Civil Engineers Inc. of Neptune Beach.
All units will have 10-foot ceilings, 8-foot doorways, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and washers and dryers.
Fort said there also will be attached and detached garages.
The community will include two pools and a pavilion with large-screen TVs, multiple grill stations, an arcade room and billiards room, a movie theater, a dog park and pool, and a business center, among other amenities. A playground might be added later.
Vineyard Vines opening at Town Center
Vineyard Vines, a Connecticut-based retailer of preppy men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and its signature men’s silk ties, intends to open in St. Johns Town Center.
No contractor is listed for the proposed $200,000 renovation of a 3,000-square-foot space at 4813 River City Drive, No. 125, for the store.
Founded in 1998 in Martha’s Vineyard, brothers Shep and Ian Murray quit their desk jobs in Manhattan to launch the business with the intention to sell ties, not wear them.
They delivered their first 800 ties that July 3 and sold out the first week. Today, the company lists on its vineyardvines.com site 78 retail stores in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
Among those 78 are seven “coming soon,” including Jacksonville and Tampa, and 15 outlet stores. There is an outlet in Estero.
The Murrays said on the site they had grown up in Connecticut and spent every summer on Martha’s Vineyard, making them fans of the water, fishing and having fun.
They found themselves “miserable behind desks in Manhattan” in the late ‘90s.
“We got our wisdom teeth pulled while we still had insurance, leased cars while we still had jobs and signed up for every credit card we could,” they said.
They quit their jobs within 10 minutes of each other, ordered drinks, clinked their glasses together and considered Vineyard Vines officially open for business.
In addition to clothing, the business sells home, tech and desk accessories, including a “Morning Commute” poster of what appears to be the brothers on a sailboat. The motto: “Every day should feel this good.”
Westside Aldi a $1M construction project
Aldi’s proposed Westside grocery store is an estimated $1 million construction project, according to a pending building-permit application.
The proposed 18,000-square-foot store is at 7043 Normandy Blvd. No contractor is listed.
Cuhaci & Peterson of Orlando is the architect and the structural, electrical and mechanical engineer, according to plans. Upham Inc. of Ormond Beach is the civil engineer.
It is one of two new Aldi stores planned in the area. The other is at the Town Center Promenade, a new development across from St. Johns Town Center.
Aldi has three other area stores: along Southside Boulevard in Jacksonville, in St. Augustine and in Middleburg. The new Jacksonville stores are about 18,000 square feet, about a third of the size of a larger Publix Super Market.
Retail notes
• Dollar General plans a store at 14837 Normandy Blvd., near Yellow Water Road. The city is reviewing site plans for Concept Development Inc. to build a 9,100-square-foot commercial retail store on the 3.26-acre site. Dollar General is not identified, but Concept Development has built Dollar General stores around the area.
• Captain’s Catch Seafood Restaurant and Sports Bar is owned by Ocean City International LLC of Potomac, Md., which filed the restaurant’s name with the state June 15. The restaurant is planned at Regency Square Mall in space leased by International Décor Outlet.
• Discount Tire wants to redevelop a 2-acre site at 7273 103rd St. into a 7,373-square-foot store. The property now has a 6,773-square-foot retail store, which would be redeveloped for Discount Tire.
• Kwik Trip Oil Co. Inc. is considering a 5,000-square-foot convenience store with 10 fueling positions on almost an acre at 7830 Normandy Blvd., west of Interstate 295. A mobility-fee calculation application shows the building would also have a drive-thru. The 8.7-acre site is owned by Victory Chapel Christian Fellowship Church Inc. Many Kwik Trips sell BP gasoline and it partners with food vendors such as Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts and Marble Slab Creamery.
Kwik Trip executive Andy Patel said the company was looking at the project and he would have more information later.
• Bealls Outlet scheduled its grand opening at Hodges Pointe Plaza for Thursday through Sunday. The outlet was created out of space formerly used by the existing Bealls Department Store, which downsized from about 80,000 square feet to about 57,000 square feet. The stores, at 13500 Beach Blvd., will have separate entrances.
• MAC Cosmetics wants to renovate its store at The Avenues mall. The city is reviewing a permit application for a $45,000 remodeling project.
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