A new tenant is pending at The Markets at Town Center to take the 31,200-square-foot space Best Buy vacated when the retailer moved the business across the street.
Property Manager Helen Ciesla said Hines is “aggressively in discussion with a prospective tenant to occupy the former Best Buy space.”
“We are getting closer to concluding a leasing deal,” she said.
She declined to identify the prospective tenant or the type of retail store that would lease at 4873 Town Center Parkway.
Best Buy moved into more than 36,000 square feet of space across the street at 4906 Town Center Parkway in The Strand at Town Center next to PGA Tour Superstore.
Meanwhile the 70,000 or so square feet being vacated by Toys R Us and Babies R Us is subject to change, too.
Those retailers liquidated under a bankruptcy order and the lease is subject to the bankruptcy auction, Ciesla said.
Asked about industry talk that a grocery store might lease the space, Ciesla said she could not comment.
“We are moving forward with a replacement tenant for Best Buy.”
Dream Finders Homes LLC is the builder behind the proposed townhome project at eTown.
The St. Johns River Water Management District is reviewing an application by Jacksonville-based Dream Finders Homes to develop what appears to be 90 townhomes among 14 buildings on 12.71 acres.
ETown is east of Interstate 295 and Florida 9B in southern Duval County. The eTown property is owned by Eastland Timber LLC, which has been selling land for residential development and also has land for commercial use.
Most of the property is east of I-295 and Florida 9B although some is west of it.
ETown Parcel E9 is at 9735 R.G. Skinner Parkway. England, Thims & Miller Inc. is the agent and civil engineer. The site is south of Baymeadows Road and east of I-295.
R.G. Skinner Parkway will be extended as E-Town Parkway.
Single-family communities and apartments already are planned in eTown, as it is called for marketing purposes.
David Weekley Homes and ICI Homes are developing in a joint venture and Toll Brothers also is planning homes. City records also show plans for a four-building multifamily project.
The PARC Group of Jacksonville is developing eTown for the Davis family, which owns the land through Eastland Timber.
While called E-Town in public documents, PARC Group is marketing it as eTown and says it will open in 2019.
The PARC Group continues to issue the statement it has offered since the project began taking shape, evident by the exit signs along I-295 that show “E-Town Parkway”:
“We are preparing preliminary plans and permits for the future eTown land, which will include, among other uses, single family and multi-family communities,” said the statement.
A St. Johns River Water Management District permit filing shows the 1,478-acre mixed-use project will include commercial acreage with much of the developable property dedicated to residential use.
The Bainbridge Jacksonville Apartments are coming to northwest Butler and Kernan boulevards on vacant property south of the University of North Florida being sold by the Skinner family.
The city is reviewing 21 permit applications for The Bainbridge Companies LLC to build 276 units at a construction cost of about $24 million at 5000 Kernan Blvd.
Permits show 90 one-bedroom, 150 two-bedroom and 36 three-bedroom apartments among 10 apartment buildings.
There also will be six six-car garages, a clubhouse, pool pavilion, maintenance garage with more functions, and two mail kiosks.
Plans show that Bainbridge Companies LLC will develop the project on 17.3 acres. Zev Cohen & Associates Inc. of Ormond Beach is the civil engineer.
Plans were prepared for Bainbridge Communities Acquisitions III LLC, a subsidiary of Wellington-based The Bainbridge Companies.
The Bainbridge Companies website says it manages about 25,000 apartment homes in more than 70 communities in Florida, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
This would be the company’s first community in Northeast Florida.
Tyler Nilsson, a director of ARA, A Newmark Company, said previously his company is the broker representing Bainbridge and that Bainbridge expects to break ground at the end of the summer after closing on the land purchase.
Nilsson said this week the purchase is scheduled to close in September and the construction schedule has not been finalized.
J&J New Kings Road LLC, led by Seattle-based Lake Washington Partners, won city approval to build its $11.4 million cross-dock distribution center in Northwest Jacksonville.
The Conlan Co. is the contractor for the proposed 373,650-square-foot warehouse distribution center on 25 acres at 10940 New Kings Road.
No tenant has been announced.
Scrubbles Atlantic Express Wash LLC acquired the former Breezes Car Wash at 835 Atlantic Blvd. in Atlantic Beach and closed it for renovations to reopen in about four months.
It took out a $2.5 million mortgage from Community Bank of Georgia.
Scrubbles opened in May in The Crossing at St. Johns Town Center. It also intends to open at Fleming Island.
Todd Buckner, the former Florida and South Georgia franchisee for Goo-Goo Express 3 Minute Car Wash, said in December the international car wash company IMO bought Goo-Goo corporate in the summer as well as his five Goo-Goo franchise locations in Georgia and Lake City, which remain operating as Goo-Goo.
Because of the Goo-Goo sale, Buckner decided to brand his own Scrubbles 3 Minute Express Wash concept.
Pilot Travel Centers Inc. paid $1.35 million for 5.72 acres at 3535 Zoo Parkway, near Interstate 295, to develop a Pilot Express.
The Knoxville, Tennessee-based company bought the vacant land from Sandlot Holdings Inc. of Saginaw, Michigan. Pilot Express is part of Pilot Travel J, which plans a 6,248-square-foot express convenience store and fueling center on the site.
The Pilot Express is smaller than the typical Pilot Travel centers. Pilot caters to commuters, truckers and the neighborhood with fuel, food outlets, retail goods, a tire center and other amenities.