Jacksonville-based developer Sleiman Enterprises wants to expand the Atlantic North shopping center and apartment community by almost 1 million square feet of retail, restaurant and hotel space, as well as another 300 multifamily units.
That corner, at northwest Kernan and Atlantic boulevards, is anchored by LA Fitness, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Earth Fare and, next spring, Belk. A 7-Eleven also operates on an outparcel.
The 290-unit Sorrel apartments are under construction on the site, just north of the retail area. The address is 11901 Atlantic Blvd.
President Toney Sleiman said Monday he also is studying the option of building a movie theater there, pending results of a competitive review to determine if the area can support one.
“The whole area is a great area,” Sleiman said.
According to Sleiman.com, demographics show average household income of $70,343 within five miles of the location. It found a population of almost 176,000, among more than 67,700 households.
That indicates an average household size of 2.6, possibly reflecting the number of young professionals and couples who live among the apartments and housing developments in the area.
The five-mile median age is 34.2, while the one-mile median age is a younger 32.4.
Sleiman projects a 2018 population of more than 183,000.
Sleiman Enterprises owns three of the four corners at Kernan and Atlantic boulevards. Sleiman said the family could develop more than 2 million square feet of space among the three corners when completed, which would be more than the St. Johns Town Center’s retail space.
In addition to the northwest corner of Kernan and Atlantic boulevards, Sleiman Enterprises owns the southeast corner, which is anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club, and the southwest corner, whose anchor tenants are a Walmart Supercenter and Kohl’s.
The city calculated a mobility fee of $3.7 million for Sleiman to complete the latest phase of the Atlantic North development, also called Villages at Kernan, saying the fee is sufficient to support the impacts of 916,500 square feet of space and 300 apartment units on the almost 147-acre site.
Fred Atwill, an agent for Sleiman for the mobility fee calculation certificate, said the plans are conceptual. He said the next step would be for Sleiman Enterprises to enter into a mobility-contract with the city.
The documents outline the uses and sizes:
• Shopping center at 690,000 square feet
• Two 10,000-square-foot multitenant retail buildings
• Two 5,000-square-foot walk-in banks
• Six 4,000-square-foot fast-food restaurants
• Four quality-casual restaurants totaling 24,000 square feet
• Service station with 18 fueling positions, convenience store and car wash at 8,500 square feet
• Pharmacy with drive-thru at 15,000 square feet
• Business hotel at 125,000 square feet.
• 300 multifamily units
Sleiman entities own the property. “It’s kind of neat,” Sleiman said. “I don’t have to rush it.”
GE Oil & Gas investment grows by $426,000
GE Oil & Gas, no longer hiding its identity after announcing Sept. 26 it would open a 500-job plant in Jacksonville, is continuing work at the Cecil Commerce Center building it will lease.
Hillwood Investment Properties, master developer at Cecil, has put the GE Oil & Gas name and a job cost on a building-permit application for a project at the 12970 Normandy Blvd. structure that will house the plant.
The Conlan Co. is the contractor for the $426,000 project. Until the announcement, the deal masqueraded as Project Speed as it moved through city and state approvals for $15.4 million in incentives, although it was widely known that GE Oil & Gas was hiring for a Jacksonville plant.
The $426,000 project cost means Hillwood is making more than a $15.8 million investment to prepare the building for GE Oil & Gas. Previous permits, totaling almost $15.4 million, included site clearing, construction, roofing, sprinklers and other work necessary for the plant that will make control valves by next spring.
The application states that 100,000 square feet will be altered within the building.
In September, Gov. Rick Scott, Mayor Alvin Brown and others announced that GE Oil & Gas will invest about $50 million into the building that will pay for manufacturing and IT equipment as well as additional real estate improvements.
The project is expected to ultimately include more than $89 million in real estate construction and improvements and expenditures on manufacturing equipment. The initial building is designed to double to 1 million square feet.
It will make Becker control valves and Mooney regulators there, turning out its first products at the end of the first quarter.
GE Oil & Gas expects to move into the structure this month and must create 35 jobs by the end of the year. Julie DeWane, vice president of Global Supply Chain at GE Measurement & Control, said in September that she expected 100 people to be hired within the first 12 months.
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