The Skinner family has property under contract in the Seven Pines development at southeast Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295 for apartments.
Family representative A.C. “Chip” Skinner III said Sept. 9 it is the first multifamily project on the property, previously known as the Southeast Quadrant.
Through Sawmill Timber LLC, the family intends to sell about 10 acres for development of 300 apartment units.
Skinner said the property sale could close by year-end, pending permitting approvals.
A conceptual site plan shows that Spectrum Companies plans 280 apartments and 20 town house units.
Plans show four apartment buildings and a clubhouse along with town house buildings.
Initial numbers show 20 studio, 116 one-bedroom, 120 two-bedroom and 24 three-bedroom apartments along with the 20 town house units.
Spectrum has not responded to requests for comment.
The site is in the middle of the Seven Pines property.
The Spectrum Companies, with offices in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, has developed 33 commercial projects including more than 3,700 apartment units and 3.7 million square feet of office and mixed-use projects.
It says it has more than 4.4 million square feet of property under management or leasing and 1,600 apartments in a portfolio valued at $2 billion.
It says it focuses in the Southeast with projects in the primary markets of Charlotte and Raleigh; Nashville, Tennessee; Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina; and in Tampa and Orlando.
The Skinners are selling land within the 1,063-acre Seven Pines property.
It is the last large undeveloped Duval County site that remains of the Skinner family’s original 50,000 acres from the late 1800s.
The rest has been sold and developed, including as St. Johns Town Center and the University of North Florida.
The property has been owned by the Skinners for more than a century for agricultural uses such as silviculture, cattle grazing and hunting.
Seven Pines stands for the seven Skinner brothers who looked after the family’s large land holdings,
Seven Pines will comprise 1,600 single-family homes, apartments and more than 1 million square feet of commercial and retail space. It will include a 34-acre park with a lake.
Homebuilders ICI Homes and David Weekley Homes will develop the residential portion of the project.
The Skinner family, through Sawmilll Timber LLC, sold about 197 acres for $11.8 million Dec. 23 to a joint venture of the builders.
The builders have the rights for about 560 acres, which they will buy in three phases.
Chip Skinner spoke for the family at a January ground-breaking marking the start of the master-planned residential community, “Seven Pines, A Legacy of Gathering.”
Skinner, president of Skinner Bros. Realty, said the family will continue to manage the property not sold to the homebuilders for timber, “just like we’ve always done.”
The family also will continue holding Thanksgiving on the property, bringing together 175 to 200 members descending from those seven brothers.
“We’ll still hunt on it and do the things that we’ve always done but,” he said, “things will change.
