Southeastern Grocers LLC is clearing out the closed Winn-Dixie store at Baymeadows Road and Interstate 295, but said it has no definitive plans for redevelopment.
However, plans filed with the interior shell demolition permit say the project consists of the removal of “soft” items “in preparation of a future permit being submitted for a new remodel.”
Southeastern Grocers spokesman Zack Bingham said Monday that language indicates only the demolition will prepare the space for “some, as of yet undetermined, future retail use.”
Bingham said more than 30 years remain on the lease agreement, which includes the primary lease and extension options.
The store, near Stein Mart in the Point Meadows shopping center, opened in 2003 but closed five years ago in a Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. cost-cutting move.
Southeastern Grocers, formed after Bi-Lo LLC bought Jacksonville-based Winn-Dixie Stores in 2012, says it cannot say what the space will or will not be.
Bingham did not comment directly when asked if the company could sublease the space to another retail tenant, although in that event it’s unlikely it would be a competitor grocery store.
“We continue to evaluate and consider a comprehensive range of options for the future use of this space,” Bingham said.
The store, at 10915 Baymeadows Road, is in an increasingly busy and popular area of town.
It’s near the population and business center of Southside’s Baymeadows area and not far from the St. Johns Town Center. It’s even closer to the site of the proposed IKEA store announced last week for I-295 and Gate Parkway.
Winn-Dixie closed the store as one of 30 underperforming locations in five states in September 2010. It was the only Jacksonville store closed as part of the plan.
The plans, designed by the Bi-Lo Holdings LLC Store Design Department, show only what will be removed, not what will be added.
The plans show a total building area of 45,820 square feet.
A visit to the Point Meadows store Monday morning found a few construction workers in the nearly vacant space. An Advanced Disposal truck hooked up a large bin of debris near the front of the store and hauled it off.
Bingham said the interior demolition includes dismantling and withdrawing existing equipment for potential use in other stores “as longer term options for the space are being considered.”
The permit application shows a shell demolition job cost of $80,000. Williams & Rowe Co. Inc. is the contractor.
The permit and plans outline the removal of nonstructural items, such as non-load bearing walls that only extended above the acoustical ceiling, the removal of the ceiling grid and tiles, the removal of quarry tile and old refrigerated cases and more.
It does not include new plumbing, mechanical or electrical work.
To show the extent of the project, the demolition job removes track lighting and linear fluorescent strips and obsolete displays and cases.
It demolishes wall partitions, flooring, and produce, deli and bakery prep areas. It also demolishes and disposes of obsolete walk-in coolers and freezers. It will cap utilities in place.
In plan notes revised Oct. 6, it said the fire sprinkler system will remain in place with no alterations during demolition. Fire alarm devices will be removed from the areas being demolished by a licensed fire alarm contractor.
Those notes specify that separate fire-alarm drawings and separate fire-sprinkler drawings will be submitted for the future remodel.
Southeastern Grocers is the Jacksonville-based parent of the Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo and Harveys supermarket chains that operate more than 750 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
There haven’t been any new or structurally remodeled Winn-Dixie stores in the area market in several years, while competitors are ramping up with additional sites.
Publix, Walmart, Fresh Market, Aldi, Earth Fare, Whole Foods and Native Sun all have opened new locations or remodeled existing stores, or both.
In July, Southeastern Grocers President and CEO Ian McLeod, who took the job March 2, said store remodeling would take place over time.
“(For) a number of our stores, it’s (been) a few years since they’ve been remodeled. I think it’s time that you can probably freshen a few of them up,” he said.
The company is looking at the potential remodels “and what the store might look and feel like, and that will come with time,” he said, indicating the company will study how to update the stores for their markets.
Bingham said the company has no definitive plan in place for a specific number of remodels. “We are always considering the optimal use of our real estate assets to best meet the evolving needs of our customers,” he said.
He also said that as a privately held company, Southeastern Grocers does not publicly disclose information that concerns capital investments.
Meanwhile, the Point Meadows store is not the only Baymeadows area Winn-Dixie that appears to be the subject of work.
The nearby Winn-Dixie at 9866 Baymeadows Road, two miles west at Southside Boulevard, also appears to have received an updated interior layout.
A walk through that store early Monday found significantly wider aisles, a much more open environment and checkout lanes with lower cash-register stands, which opened the view across all the lanes and into what seemed to be an expanded produce section.
The interior also appeared to have been repainted.
That 58,000-square-foot store was built in 1986, property records show.
The changes at that Winn-Dixie raise questions whether the reconfigured elements are an experiment by the company to gauge customer responses.
However, Bingham said the company does not have a dedicated “test” store in Jacksonville.
“As a retailer that is always looking to improve our operations and closely listening to our customers, we continuously trial new concepts in our stores,” he said.
He said trials take place across many stores in the areas it services.
Both Baymeadows Road Winn-Dixie stores are near Publix Super Market Inc. locations.
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