Developer Mike Balanky is seeking a user or anchor tenant for an up to 1 million-square-foot office building that could be built on the Downtown Southbank of the St. Johns River.
It's the site he had proposed for the JEA headquarters. JEA chose to lease a building proposed on the Northbank near the Duval County Courthouse.
Cushman & Wakefield announced Thursday it will be the exclusive leasing agent for Balanky's project, the Kings Avenue Station. The project would not be built speculatively but for a single user or large-scale anchor tenant, it said.
Balanky's Chase Properties, a Jacksonville-based commercial real estate company, retained Cushman & Wakefield Senior Director Traci Jenks to oversee leasing for the project.
“This is a rare opportunity for a large-scale user to locate their business in a brand new building within the heart of one of Jacksonville’s fastest-growing submarkets,” Jenks said in a news release.
The development site at 1201 Kings Ave. can accommodate up to 1 million square feet of Class A office space and ground-floor retail space, said Cushman & Wakefield.
The total size would depend on what the tenant needs. An anchor could take the entire building or a major portion.
The site is pad-ready with entitlements and infrastructure in place, it said.
Cushman & Wakefield said the building will connect to the existing 1,650-space parking garage by a pedestrian bridge.
There are signage opportunities at the site, which is along Interstate 95. Cushman & Wakefield said 56 million cars pass by annually.
“The central location, design flexibility, unbeatable parking and signage opportunities along I-95 make this project perfect for a national or regional headquarters,” Jenks said.
The site is between the historic San Marco area and Downtown and is with walking distance to restaurants and shops. It also is adjacent to a Hilton Garden Inn.
Baptist Medical Center, Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center and Wolfson Children’s Hospital are nearby.
Cushman & Wakefield also said more than 1,000 apartments are expected to open in the area by the end of 2020, “adding high-quality, convenient housing options for a user’s employee base.
“The time is right for new office construction in this up-and-coming submarket of Jacksonville,” said Balanky, Chase Properties president and CEO, in the news release.
“With its site plan and zoning, Kings Avenue Station has the potential to be truly transformative for this area,” he said.
