Rooms To Go wants to move into the former Toys R Us space at The Markets at Town Center.
The city is reviewing plans and a permit application for a $3.7 million renovation of 84,880 square feet of space at 4875 Town Center Parkway.
That size likely is smaller because the space has been marketed as 74,018 square feet. It was not immediately clear why the size on the permit application is larger than the marketed square footage.
That cost also could change as the project proceeds.
The application describes the project as “renovation of retail space previously utilized as Toys R Us to be converted to Rooms to Go retail furniture sales.”
It says there also will be minor exterior facade upgrades with complete interior tenant improvement and a minor civil and landscape scope.
It’s not clear if Rooms To Go will buy or lease the space. Rooms To Go’s CEO could not be reached for comment by the afternoon of Sept. 16.
The Markets at Town Center is owned by Hines Global REIT.
News-journalonline.com reported in September 2019 that Rooms To Go would build a prototype store in Daytona by 2021 that comprised separate storefronts for its Rooms To Go, Rooms To Go Kids and Rooms To Go (outdoor furniture) Patio stores. That store will be 55,400 square feet, the news service reported.
Rooms to Go, based in Seffner, announced then it will build its prototype in five locations – two stores in Orlando and one each in Daytona Beach, Tampa and Atlanta.
In June, Edwards Engineering Inc. requested the availability of utility service for Rooms To Go at The Markets at Town Center.
That June 4 request to JEA says Rooms To Go would occupy an existing box retail store in The Markets at Town Center at 4871 Town Center Parkway.
It didn’t specify the size or the location, although The Markets has big-box availability with the closed Toys R Us and Babies R Us store, which is next to the Sprouts Farmers Market that moved into a former Best Buy that relocated.
Rooms To Go operates three stores in Northeast Florida at 9278 Arlington Expressway in the Regency Court shopping center in Arlington; at 11030 Philips Highway near The Avenues mall; and at 142 Blanding Blvd. in Orange Park.
The Markets at Town Center space is more than the combined space of the two existing closest Rooms To Go stores.
Property records show that Rooms To Go affiliates own the roughly 30,000-square-foot Regency area store built in 1998, and the roughly 41,000-square-foot Avenues area store built in 1995.
Another entity owns the 30,000-square-foot Orange Park store, built in 1994.
The Markets at Town Center location is nearly a midpoint between the Regency and Avenues stores.
The Regency store is about 6 miles north and The Avenues area store is almost 8 miles south.
The Markets at Town Center Toys R Us and Babies R Us store closed in 2018.
Stephanie McCullough and Kelly Pulignano with The Shopping Center Group represent Hines at The Markets at Town Center.
The Markets lease brochure on the TSCG website does not show the Toys R Us space as available.
McCullough and Pulignano had no comment late Sept. 15.
