There’s a hole in the Jacksonville Beach Pablo Plaza shopping center where Office Depot used to be and Whole Foods Market intends to be.
The natural and organics market is preparing to build the $3 million store at 2050 S. Third St.
It will be the grocer’s second area location. The first opened in Mandarin in 2008.
A Whole Foods spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement that the company had no additional information to share but would be in touch when opening details are available.
After Office Depot moved to a smaller location within the renovated Pablo Plaza, the former office-supplies store in the middle of the plaza was demolished for construction of Whole Foods.
Whole Foods will build a 34,400-square-foot store, according to a site plan by landlord Regency Centers Corp. and a Jacksonville Beach building-permit application.
J. Raymond Construction Corp. of Longwood is the contractor for the $3.06 million project. CPH Engineering is the civil engineer and the architect is ELM | Ervin Lovett Miller.
The notice of commencement says the project is shell construction and a facade renovation, indicating that interior build-out will be separately permitted.
Regency Centers spokesman Eric Davidson said Wednesday it was too early to speculate about an opening date.
Office Depot had sublet that space from Publix Super Markets Inc., whose lease expired in November 2018. Publix relocated to another Jacksonville Beach location.
Whole Foods announced in May 2015 it signed a lease to open a store in Pablo Plaza in 2021, although the property manager said then he thought it would be earlier.
Property owner Equity One Corp., which was bought by Regency Centers on March 1, 2017, announced a plaza makeover in 2015.
Whole Foods’ Mandarin Landing shopping center store at 10601 San Jose Blvd. was built in 2008. It is larger at 51,000 square feet.
Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. bought Whole Foods Inc. in 2017.
Whole Foods operates 500 stores, with 479 in the United States, 14 in Canada and seven in the United Kingdom. It started in Austin, Texas, in 1980.
