Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., one of Jacksonville’s largest manufacturers with 2,000 employees, is making another multimillion-dollar investment in the city.
The maker of the Acuvue brand of disposable contact lenses applied for a building permit that shows its proposed central utility plant will be a $12 million project.
Gilbane Building Co. is the contractor for the 9,600-square-foot addition.
Vision Care said the plant will house mechanical equipment, such as chillers and cooling towers, needed to provide utility services for its buildings and manufacturing lines.
The plant would serve the growing campus of manufacturing, research, office and distribution functions, reaching almost 900,000 square feet of space.
Vision Care makes 1.7 billion Acuvue disposable contact lenses a year at the 69-acre campus at 7500 Centurion Parkway.
The company said the project will bring all of its utility equipment to one location and replace older units with new, energy-efficient equipment. Construction is targeted to begin in August and be completed in June 2016.
The central utility plant joins the $19 million Phase 7 construction addition project that is part of a proposed $301 million expansion when manufacturing, research and development equipment is added.
Vision Care, formerly known as Vistakon, also is adding a solvent tank farm.
Baptist Health moves ahead at duPont Center
Baptist Health quickly took steps to prepare a medical office in the Southbank duPont Center buildings it intends to buy this month for $16 million.
Baptist seeks a permit for an estimated $440,000 renovation of more than 8,000 square feet at 1660 Prudential Drive, one of the two buildings the health care system wants to acquire. The space is for Baptist Rheumatology, which will relocate from a nearby San Marco location.
The renovation cost will be confirmed when the contractor is selected.
The structures are 89 percent leased. Baptist Health, whose main hospital campus is at 800 Prudential Drive, plans to centralize administrative offices and some clinical services into available space in the buildings.
2 area Five Below stores open today
Coming just as school lets out for the summer, Five Below will open its first 10 stores in Florida today, including two in Jacksonville.
A third should open next month.
The “extreme-value” retailer aimed at teens, pre-teens and their parents will open at 9:30 a.m. in the Argyle Village Shopping Center in Southwest Jacksonville and in the South Beach Regional Shopping Center in Jacksonville Beach.
The Five Below in The Markets at Town Center should open in July, but no specific date is available.
Described in the news release as “a hip and exciting dollar store for teens,” the chain sells all of its merchandise at $5 and below. Items include flip-flops, iPhone cases, yoga mats, nail polish and other goods, including candy and clothes.
For example, an ad circular this week indicates the scope of merchandise, including pool floats, sundresses and boogie boards for $5.
Store hours are 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.
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