Florida-based Baer’s Furniture Co. Inc. plans to build its first store in Jacksonville at northwest Gate Parkway and Point Meadows Drive, across from Ikea.
Jason Ryals, principal with Colliers International Northeast Florida, said Baer’s paid $3.2 million for about 4 acres from Tampa-based Brightwork Real Estate.
The acreage is part of more than 13 acres Brightwork bought for $7.7 million from the Skinner family, he said.
Ryals said Baer’s intends to build a store of 80,000 square feet.
He said construction likely will start next summer with completion by year-end 2019 or early 2020.
A Baer’s representative was not immediately available Tuesday for comment.
Baer’s, with 16 locations statewide, describes itself as “Florida’s premium furniture and mattress store.” It sells furnishings for living room, dining, bedroom, home office and entertainment spaces.
Brands include Natuzzi Editions, Tommy Bahama Home and Outdoor Living, Bernhardt, Thomasville. Hooker Furniture, Broyhill and Lexington.
The company has been family owned and operated since 1945.
Ryals represented Brightwork in its purchase from the Skinners and on Brightwork’s sale to Baer’s.
The site includes 9.94 acres that was rezoned Sept. 11 by City Council. The remaining acreage is an electrical utility easement and not part of the rezoning, Ryals said.
The Arthur Chester Skinner III Trust, which sold the land, rezoned it from Planned Unit Development to another PUD to permit a gas station and convenience store and other commercial, retail or office uses.
The shopping center is designed to include a Wawa convenience store and gas station.
Conceptual site plans show five parcels with a gas station and convenience store; a retail, quick-service restaurant or commercial building; a furniture, retail, warehouse or commercial building; a commercial or retail building; and a self-storage, retail, warehouse or commercial building.
Development would start within five years of the PUD approval and completion within 10 years or as the market dictates.
Baer’s joins a busy area for furniture sales, from Ikea’s price-friendly self-assembly offerings to La-Z-Boy Furniture, Ashley Furniture, Ethan Allen and Arhaus, among other retailers, at St. Johns Town Center.
Thomasville is closing at Town Center as its parent company reorganizes under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.