More apartments are planned for Butler Boulevard near St. Johns Town Center on land owned by the Skinner family, which Tuesday received rezoning approval from City Council.
On Monday, the project received city approval of a Conditional Capacity Availability Statement. That document authorizes the Skinners to transfer 164 p.m. peak vehicle trips allocated to the Skinner/Kernan Interchange Lands Development Agreement as part of an eventual sale of 17.3 acres at northwest Butler and Kernan boulevards to Bainbridge Communities Acquisitions III, a subsidiary of Wellington-based The Bainbridge Companies.
Plans filed with the city show 276 apartments across Kernan from The Retreat at St. Johns apartments and a planned Kernan East Adult Living community.
All are part of the Skinner/Kernan agreement. The CCAS application indicates the site originally was planned for a 300-room hotel.
The property is just south of the University of North Florida. The capacity statement will expire Jan. 19, 2019, unless it is granted an extension or an application is made for a Concurrency Reservation Certificate.
A preliminary site plan shows 10 buildings in addition to a clubhouse and pool area. It comprises 91 one-bedroom apartments, 138 two-bedroom units and 47 three-bedrooms. It also includes 412 surface parking and 24 garage parking spaces, an average of 1.58 per unit.
A representative of The Bainbridge Companies said it was too early to provide details regarding the project. She said the projected timetable for closing is October.
A 3.46-acre pond is on the northwest corner of the site. The entrance is shown off Kernan Boulevard. The site is bordered to the north by Betty Holzendorf Drive and to the west by the UNF Golf Complex. The site engineer is England-Thims & Miller Inc. of Jacksonville.
Development of the apartment community would leave available only two outparcels between the apartments and Kernan Boulevard in the overall development agreement.
The outparcels are separated by the entrance to the planned apartments.
According to family representative Chip Skinner, the parcel to the south of the entrance nearest Butler Boulevard is 2.23 acres and the parcel to the north is 2.75 acres.
“One lot is under contract and one is available, but I can’t provide any information about the lot under contract because of a confidentially agreement,” Skinner said.
The Skinner family retains 149 p.m. peak vehicle trips per day for development of those two sites. The number of total daily afternoon peak trips under the agreement is limited to 580.
The rezoning represents the final major hurdle for development of the apartments. Skinner said some minor environmental permitting remains.
According to The Bainbridge Companies website, it manages about 25,000 apartment homes in more than 70 communities, including about 7,000 units that have been recently renovated, constructed, developed and/or leased.
Communities are in Florida, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C. This would be the company’s first community in Northeast Florida.