Citing an advantageous location and changing mindsets, Fort Family Investments will build another apartment community in Flagler Center in South Jacksonville.
The city is reviewing construction permits for the Luxor Club Rental Community in Flagler Center in South Jacksonville.
Abe Fort, director of development, said Wednesday clearing has begun toward construction of the 464 apartments and the first should be ready in January 2019.
Summit Contracting Group Inc. is the contractor.
Luxor Club permits total at least $35 million and the project comprises 25 apartment buildings on 39.82 acres at 13800 Egrets Nest Drive.
Fort said 35 acres are usable. He said the company typically does not divulge investment costs.
Flagler Center is south of Old St. Augustine Road between Philips Highway and Interstate 95. It is just north of St. Johns County.
Major employers in the mixed-use center include Citi, Web.com, Ernst & Young and Firehouse Subs.
Baptist South operates a medical center there. Retail stores, housing and more apartments have been developed within the center or nearby.
Fort cited several factors for the decision to develop Luxor Club.
First, he said the location is near Fort’s Palm Bay Club and Alaqua apartments, which are 95 percent occupied or almost that full. Fort said the company tends to develop in clusters.
Second, Fort said his group’s projects attract renters ranging from young professionals to retirees who are moving out of houses into apartments in which management maintains the grounds and the property.
The growth of apartments in general reflects demographics, he said.
In the past, traditional new renters were young workers waiting to buy a single-family home.
“The whole mindset seems to be changing,” Fort said. Millennials are marrying and having children later. Some of them also saw adults during the recession struggle with home ownership and mortgage payments as their home values dropped.
With retirees also choosing to rent, the market has changed.
Fort said Luxor Club will comprise one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, although rental rates have not been determined.
He said there will be 15 three-story buildings of 28 units; two three-story buildings of 18 units; and eight two-story carriage houses in which the first floor comprises four garage spaces and the top floor is a single two-bedroom apartment.
In the carriage houses, one of the garage spaces will be dedicated to the upstairs tenant and the other three will be leased to other apartment renters. Those total 24 garage spaces.
There also will be 60 garage spaces — four each — on the ground floor of the 15 larger apartment buildings.
In size, one-bedroom units will range from 808 to 1,082 square feet; two-bedroom units will be 1,120 to 1,454 square feet; and three-bedrooms will be 1,460 to 1,521 square feet.
The two-bedroom carriage units will be 1,442 square feet.
There also will be a clubhouse, pool pavilion, tennis court, playground, lawn, dog park and pool, pet spa, bike storage facility, car care center and other amenities.
Excluding Luxor Club, Jacksonville-based Fort Family Investments owns 1,860 apartment units, he said.
Fort Family Investments developed and owns Palm Bay Club, Alaqua, Cabana Club, Galleria at Cabana Club, Hacienda Club and Spyglass in Jacksonville and Ocean Park of Ponte Vedra in Jacksonville Beach.
A permit is pending for the $4.81 million construction of a store for Floor & Décor Outlets of America Inc. at 10595 Brightman Blvd.
No contractor is listed for the 74,179-square-foot store on 6 acres near St. Johns Town Center.
Stiles Architectural Group of Fort Lauderdale is the contractor. England-Thims & Miller Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
Smyrna, Georgia-based Floor & Décor is shown as the tenant. The plans describe it as a retail flooring products store that sells tile and wood flooring and the accessories to install it.
The materials for sale either are in rack storage or displayed on the floor on pallets, it says.
A permit issued Nov. 22 allowed tree harvesting on the site.
The property is owned by S-FD Jax LLC, a Stiles Corp. company. Stiles is based in Fort Lauderdale.
In October, Cantrell & Morgan Inc. and Stiles Corp. announced their joint venture will break ground early next year on the site for a $14 million retail project, but did not identify the tenant.
A project description in planning documents of a proposed retail flooring outlet matched that of Floor & Décor, which has not commented.
The Cantrell & Morgan and Stiles venture bought the property in October from the Skinner family for $3.95 million.
The deed names the buyer as F + D JAX LLC, led by S/CM FD JAX LLC of Fort Lauderdale.
Cantrell & Morgan CEO Chris Morgan said previously he anticipates the tenant will open in early 2019.
The site is south of Topgolf along Brightman Boulevard, off Interstate 295 next to St. Johns Town Center.
Floor & Décor operates a store at 8102 Blanding Blvd. in the Crossroads Shopping Center in southwest Jacksonville. Site plans show that store is 85,560 square feet.
Floor & Décor is publicly traded. It stocks tile, wood, laminate and natural stone flooring along with decorative and installation accessories.
It said it appeals to customers that include professional installers and commercial businesses, do-it-yourself customers and customers who buy the products for professional installation.
It operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Floor and Decor Outlets of America.
