A rendering is ready, talks are underway with Class A users and the construction team is in place for the more than $30 million Town Center One building in Southside, one of the first structures announced in years without a signed lead tenant.
Developer VanTrust Real Estate Executive Vice President John Carey said he is talking with several prospective tenants for the Gate Parkway project.
Groundbreaking is subject to “continued favorable market conditions,” he said.
Anticipating completion of the design and permitting process, Carey said VanTrust Real Estate intends to break ground in the spring on the five-story office building that will offer about 164,000 square feet of space.
The structure and almost 950 parking spaces will be developed on 10.5 acres. It should be ready for occupancy in summer 2018.
Carey said the amount of parking is because of the expected users and their requirements.
He said the 4 million square feet of office space in the Gate Parkway area submarket is more than 96 percent leased, indicating a demand for Town Center One.
Brasfield & Gorrie is the general contractor; Rolland, DelValle & Bradley is the architect; and England, Thims & Miller is the civil engineer. Architectural and civil plans are underway.
VanTrust Real Estate is based in Kansas City, Mo. Carey leads its regional office. He also is founding partner of Whitehall Realty Partners LLC.
VanTrust Real Estate, through JO Town Center 160 LLC, bought the property Aug. 31 from members of the Skinner family for $4.58 million.
Public documents define the address as 5201 Gate Parkway, but that is used by Deutsche Bank at its existing leased building near the VanTrust site.
Carey said Town Center One would receive a new address. The property is next to the FBI building.
With a name like Town Center One, could there be a Town Center Two?
Carey said that would require buying adjacent land.
“We have no formal arrangement with the Skinner family but ideally we would like to build multiple buildings at this location,” Carey said.
VanTrust also wants to develop a 675,000-square-foot office project in Nocatee.
Deutsche Bank to create amenities at Meridian
Deutsche Bank proposes to convert part of a building on its main Southside campus for amenities, including a proposed patio.
Site plans were filed as the city reviews a building-permit application for a $4 million renovation.
That renovation would comprise 25,715 square feet of the more than 33,000-square-foot building. Gilbane Building Co. would convert it into event space and a café.
The large event area would include a projection screen, conference room and pre-function space, along with a kitchen and a large dining room. It also appears to offer space for private meetings.
The bank on Tuesday did not provide a timeframe for completion. It also proposes a $1 million remodel to Building 400, its main office and visitor entrance.
The Germany-based bank employs 1,800 people among two campuses about a mile apart along Gate Parkway.
It leases the five-building, 200,000-square-foot Meridian Business Park at 5022 Gate Parkway as its main site, where Building 300 is proposed for renovation.
The bank also leases a three-story, 150,000-square-foot building at 5201 Gate Parkway that includes a cafeteria, patio, fitness center, health center and other amenities.
Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan said in August at the ribbon-cutting for the 5201 building that he saw the local operations reaching their 2,800-job capacity.
Deutsche Bank’s Southside operation has evolved from a single function operation center to a multidivisional regional office, considered a microcosm of the bank’s New York footprint.
NAIOP to feature Wayne Wood
Historian Wayne Wood is scheduled to headline the Sept. 21 NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association Northeast Florida Chapter lunch to talk about “Restoring Our Roots: Adaptive Reuse of Historic Downtown.”
Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. and lunch starts at noon.
The location is an example of the topic: the Jessie Ball duPont Center, the former Haydon Burns Library, at 40 E. Adams St. Downtown.
Costs are $35 for members and $55 for nonmembers or guests. For information, email [email protected].
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