Miami-based property owner Ramon Llorens is asking for a wetlands determination for 209.3 acres he owns at 9595 New Berlin Court in the Dames Point area.
The waterfront property is in a prime location, facing the western side of Blount Island. The Dames Point terminal is 10 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean and is JaxPort’s newest marine facility.
Llorens, through Amkin Dames Point LLC, bought 250 acres along New Berlin Road in 2015 and 2016.
The New Berlin Court address comprises about 188 acres. The land is at southeast Heckscher Drive and Interstate 295.
Llorens filed a petition for a formal determination of the landward extent of wetlands and other surface waters at the site. The district said the request was not for construction, but to establish the wetlands limits.
The property’s land use is water-dependent industrial. An aerial of the property shows wetlands on the northern portion of the site.
Llorens has not responded to phone calls or an email. Peacock Consulting Group LLC is listed in the application as having established the boundary line, but could not be reached Tuesday.
The application is another step that Llorens has taken to assemble and define the property along the shipping channel of the St. Johns River.
In September, Llorens, through Amkin Dames Point LLC, paid $7.5 million for the 188-acre parcel adjacent to 63 acres it bought the year before near the JaxPort Dames Point Marine Terminal.
A fraction of an acre is along Irving Road.
Those purchases total about 250 acres of industrial property in a prime area for water-related development.
Amkin bought the largest parcel from Whitney Bank in Gulfport, Miss. Property records identified the owner as Nichols Creek Development Corp of Vidalia, Ga.
That property has been reviewed for industrial development, although it’s not clear if Llorens would pursue that route alone or with a developer or whether he would sell the land.
The city certified a conditional capacity availability statement for the property in August that indicated improvements with horizontal development and a new building. The capacity statement said the enclosed area of development is 323,000 square feet.
That statement and the original 2009 city development agreement on the property said the net acreage is 84 acres, which are uplands.
In the application for the statement, Nichols Creek Development LLC listed the same address as Amkin’s local agent, and the application fee was paid by Amkin Dames Point.
A CCAS is a concurrency filing. Concurrency requires that before any proposed development can obtain a final development order in Jacksonville, it must be demonstrated that its impact to public infrastructure can be adequately absorbed.
A 2009 city development agreement on the property detailed 323,000 square feet of warehouse space, 460,000 square feet of industrial-park space and 54 acres for port and marine terminal use.
It stated the development involved multiple phases and would occur over an extended period of time.
The Dames Point area includes the TraPac Container Terminal, the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility and is the home port of Carnival Cruise Lines’ Elation passenger ship.
Llorens has been an active Jacksonville investor.
Since September 2014, through ownership groups, he has acquired EverBank Center Downtown; property in the Talleyrand area that includes the former Ford Motor Co. plant; the New Berlin Road property; Southbank riverfront commercial buildings; a Downtown parking garage at 336 W. Bay St.; and a 2.78-acre parking lot at Hogan and West Bay streets near the parking garage.
Broker selected for River City Marketplace
Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust chose Franklin Street’s North Florida office as its exclusive leasing broker for the River City Marketplace center in North Jacksonville.
Whitney Kantor, director of retail leasing at Franklin Street, will be River City’s leasing broker along with managing director Carrie Smith.
River City Marketplace is a 918,665-square-foot regional community center on the east side of the Jacksonville International Airport exit with frontage on Interstate 95.
The North Jacksonville center is anchored by Regal Cinemas, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Ross Dress for Less, Michaels, Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy.
Franklin Street and Ramco-Gershenson also are marketing available expansion parcels for new construction at I-95 and in front of Regal Cinemas.
Ramco-Gershenson developed, owns and manages River City Marketplace, which opened in 2006. It began with the main power center and anchor tenants and then expanded along the eastern entrance to the mall from Main Street, which is U.S. 17.
In 2014, Ramco-Gershenson completed development of the Parkway Shops on Airport Center Drive. Those shops include Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hobby Lobby, Ulta and Marshalls.
Here they come: Goo-Goo, Gate car washes OK’d
The city approved construction for the first area car washes for Goo-Goo and for Jacksonville-based Gate Petroleum Co.
The Goo-Goo 3 Minute Express Wash was OK’d for construction at 5064 Weebers Crossing Drive in The Crossing at Town Center.
The Angelo Group Inc. will build the 4,555-square-foot project at a cost of $1.92 million.
Florida and South Georgia Goo-Goo franchisee Todd Buckner said previously that a second area car wash is planned, and possibly more.
Goo-Goo features an express-wash tunnel, in which drivers remain in their vehicle as it is washed in three minutes. The company is based in Columbus, Ga.
The city also approved construction for Jacksonville’s first Gate Express Carwash in Southwest Jacksonville at 7059 Collins Road.
Scherer Construction of Northeast Florida LLC will build the 4,249-square-foot car wash at a project cost of $850,000, according to the permit.
Gate said it would open the first two locations of its new concept this fall — the Collins Road site at Interstate 295 and the other in St. Johns County at Nocatee Parkway and Davis Park Drive.
Gate said in October it will build and operate more than 20 free-standing express tunnel Gate Express Carwashes throughout Northeast Florida.
Gate Express Carwashes will feature a 125- to 145-foot tunnel system that can accommodate five to seven vehicles at a time and provide a wash in less than 4 minutes.
Customers don’t have to leave their cars.
Meanwhile, the city issued a Mobility Fee Calculation Certificate to Gate for a Gate Express Carwash at 10913 Beach Blvd.
Gate wants to build a 4,375-square-foot car wash on 1.39 acres there that it owns through BFC Property Holdings Inc.
The city assessed the mobility fee, based on transportation impacts, at $18,398.
Fast-food planned at NW Atlantic and University
A fast-food restaurant and drive thru could be developed at northwest Atlantic and University boulevards.
The Jacksonville Planning and Development Department forwarded an application to the Planning Commission for the project, which does not identify the restaurant.
The property owner is First B Realty LP of Waco, Texas. The address is the vacant land at 5955 University Blvd.
Agent Brad Wester with the Driver McAfee Peak and Hawthorne law firm applied for a minor modification to the Planned Unit Development.
The PUD provides for a filling station but can be changed with a minor modification.
The application says the proposed fast-food restaurant is of similar intensity and site design.
Those familiar with the area know how busy it is. The application says there will be only one entry point — from University Boulevard — and a right-in/right-out point along Atlantic Boulevard.
An April 6 conceptual site plan shows a one-story, 4,500-square-foot building on the 0.9-acre site.
The property at one time was owned by BP Exploration & Oil Inc.
Miami Grill Regency build-out approved
The city approved tenant build-out for Miami Grill at 9575 Regency Square Blvd. N. in the Regency area, an area where Miami Subs closed 14 years ago.
Miami Grill is renovating the former Zaxby’s.
Adcon Advanced Construction LLC is remodeling the 3,037-square-foot space at a project cost of $150,000.
The new Miami Grill has been described by the company as a “fresher and more hip version” than the original Miami Subs in Jacksonville.
The new Miami Grill is expected to open in the fall and hire 50 people. More locations are expected.
The company kept the signature items, such as chicken wings, gyros, Philly cheesesteaks and burgers, while adding grilled fish and shrimp options, wraps and new salads to the menu.
Owners of the New Miami Subs Grill bought the former Zaxby’s restaurant, which was built in 2001 at 9575 Regency Square Blvd. N. A new Zaxby’s was developed next door.
The former Miami Subs closed in 2003 at a site along Monument Road.
Tijuana Flats coming to Mandarin South
Tijuana Flats is the latest tenant to build-out at the Mandarin South shopping center at 11700 San Jose Blvd.
No contractor is listed for the estimated $180,000 project in 2,405 square feet of space.
Mandarin South is owned by Preferred Growth Properties, the real estate subsidiary of Books-A-Million.
Mandarin South’s tenants will include 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza, Royal Nails, Taziki’s Mediterranean Café, Flooring Store, Yogurt Mountain, Earth Fare, PetSmart and existing tenants AutoZone, Planet Beach and The Poochie Spa.
Notes
• MedExpress intends to open its first Jacksonville urgent care location July 12 at 7720 Merrill Road. A second is being developed at 11901 Atlantic Blvd, at Kernan and Atlantic boulevards, with an estimated opening this year.
• Baptist Primary Care is preparing to build-out at 4530 St. Johns Ave. The city is reviewing a permit application for renovation of 4,669 square feet of space there at a cost of $380,109.
• Publix Super Markets Inc. is adding a liquor store in the Reedy Branch Commons shopping center at 10920 Baymeadows Road. Publix Liquors will open in about 2,500 square feet next to its grocery store there.
• Signs were approved for Tossgreen at the SunTrust Building at 76 S. Laura St.
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