Core Property Capital has long had Jacksonville on its development radar.
It considered deals — both development and investment — in Mandarin, the Beaches and other parts of town over the years.
However, it didn’t focus on a target until a year ago when land became available next to St. Johns Town Center.
“It’s great real estate” said Chip Dillard, vice president of the group, which has offices in Atlanta and Naples. The Jacksonville project is called Town Center Exchange.
St. Johns Town Center, at Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295, has developed over the past 10 years into the area’s dominant retail destination.
Dillard said Core Property talked with property owners Bright Skinner, Lanny Thomas and the Skinner family earlier this year and entered into a contract. The property is west along Town Center Parkway, from Midtown Parkway north to Brightman Boulevard.
Core Property will buy 63.3 acres, of which almost 30 acres can be developed into apartments, a hotel and about 100,000 square feet of retail space, which Dillard said would predominantly be restaurants. A grocery store also is possible.
He declined to identify potential tenants or users.
Core Property is a real estate investor, asset manager and developer that has completed more than $1.3 billion in commercial real estate deals since 2009, totaling more than 3 million square feet of retail space and about 3,000 multifamily units.
The company seeks a rezoning of the property to accommodate its planned unit development. If approved, most of the project should open in early 2017, he said.
Dillard said Core Property hoped to complete the property purchase within the next couple of months.
This will be Core Property’s first project in Jacksonville.
Dillard said a project in the Buckhead area of Atlanta is similar in nature. That 21-acre center will open late this year or early next year. It will feature apartments and tenants such as Sprouts Farmers Market, KnuckleUp fitness, Chipotle, Urban Cookhouse and Tupelo Honey Café. That doesn’t mean those tenants are coming to Jacksonville.
Dillard said Core Property would develop 250-350 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments at Town Center Exchange.
He said it was too early to know the investment cost because it will depend on the size and number of units.
More area investment opportunities are possible, but not planned.
The market isn’t unfamiliar to Core Property Capital. John Graham, a principal with Core Property Capital, worked with Dewberry Capital Corp. when it redeveloped Roosevelt Mall into Roosevelt Square from 1999-2003.
Dillard said a lot of tenants have approached him about Town Center Exchange. “The demand is strong for our site,” he said.
He said demand also was strong for an adjacent site for a mixed-use development to the south that is under contract by other members of the Skinner Family to Preferred Growth Properties.
Ameris moving operations center to Center Building
Ameris Bank, which is moving its executive offices into Riverplace Tower Downtown, will consolidate area back-office operations in the Center Building in Baymeadows.
The city is reviewing a permit application for Ameris Bank to renovate 22,000 square feet of space on the second floor of the three-story building at 7825 Baymeadows Road. No contractor is specified for the estimated $600,000 build-out.
President and COO Andy Cheney said the bank maintains its Jacksonville corporate, loan processing and operations in Deerwood Center along Baymeadows Way and a call center in St. Augustine.
Ameris should be moving its executive offices Downtown by Jan. 1 and the operations center will consolidate about the same time.
Cheney said Tuesday that 70 employees will move initially to the new operations site, comprising the call center, IT, training and a loan operation. The St. Augustine call center might continue with transition staff, although the principal component will be in Jacksonville.
“Clearly we think Jacksonville has the foundation for the recruiting and employment opportunities,” Cheney said.
Ameris Bank is the wholly owned banking subsidiary of Ameris Bancorp, which is based in Moultrie, Ga.
Cheney said previously that Ameris has 120 employees at the administrative and operations center in the suburbs and 30 in the branches. That number is expected to increase.
Cheney said Ameris will move about 40 employees Downtown to start, as well as some executives that will relocate from Moultrie.
Its total space in Riverplace Tower will reach 35,000 square feet, starting with 15,000 square feet on the 26th floor and about 4,000 square feet for a branch on the first floor of the 28-story tower. The Ameris Bank name will be put on top of the building.
Baptist Health opening imaging center in duPont office building
Baptist Health continues moving medical functions into the duPont Center office campus it bought in June on the Southbank.
The health care system wants to open an imaging center in the 1660 Prudential Drive building, where it also is adding a rheumatology office. Those projects total more than $1 million in construction costs.
The city is reviewing a permit application for Infinity Design Builders Inc. to renovate 3,116 square feet of space for an imaging center at a job cost of $606,535.
In July, the city approved a permit for Adams Interior Contractors to renovate 8,014 square feet of space in the building for the rheumatology office at a cost of $450,186.
Baptist Health completed a $16 million purchase of the duPont Center I and II office buildings at 1650 and 1660 Prudential Drive. The acquisition included a vacant parcel.
The two buildings, totaling about 160,000 square of space, were 89 percent leased to tenants.
Baptist Health said it planned to occupy available space there over time.
Its main Baptist Medical Center campus at 841 Prudential Drive is less than a mile from the duPont Center.
NGA opens North American HQ
NGA Human Resources, a provider of global HR solutions and services, has opened its new North America headquarters in the Prominence office park in the Baymeadows area.
The office, at 8880 Freedom Commerce Trail, is one of NGA’s more than 30 global service offices in more than 145 countries. The Jacksonville office provides a central location and work environment for more than 400 area employees.
Relocation from NGA’s former Jacksonville offices began in August and the move is scheduled to be completed by the end of November.
NGA also has offices in Tallahassee.
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