A rising option for car buyers is going up along Lenoir Avenue along Interstate 95.
Carvana, a national online auto retailer, received a permit Thursday to build an eight-story Car Vending Machine at which customers can watch their purchases be delivered robotically.
Scherer Construction of Northeast Florida LLC is the contractor for the $2.5 million job, which includes a one-story office building with delivery bays as well as the machine.
The site on Lenoir Avenue will feature a brightly lit tower that would be visible along I-95 south of Downtown.
Phoenix-based Carvana sells late-model used cars online. Founded in 2013, the company designed the robotic tower to hold 20 cars.
A customer can pick up a car at one of the company’s towers or have it delivered.
Those choosing the machine are given a Carvana-branded coin to insert. The car is retrieved and automated technology delivers it to the ground level.
The Jacksonville project is designed on an almost 4.3-acre site. Carvana will use about 2 acres and the remaining property is shown as future development.
Pooler, Ga.-based Jaymala Inc. owns the property. Interplan LLC of Orlando is the project agent.
Previously filed plans showed the business typically would operate 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. At full operation, it would have four to 12 employees on-site.
Carvana has been developing the towers over the past four years, opening the largest in Houston in December. That one is eight stories.
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