by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Two new commercial developments on U.S. 1 in front of Palencia will impact not only the residents of Palencia but also the commuters along the stretch of highway.
Mercado Walk at Palencia Commons
Joyce Development Group is developing Mercado Walk at Palencia Commons, a 6.3-acre site of commercial retail and office space in one- and two-story buildings. Mercado Walk is on Paseo Reyes Drive just north of Palencia’s main entrance on U.S. 1.
“We develop village shopping centers,” said John Joyce, president of Joyce Development Group Inc. “We develop where there is an opportunity to develop. When Hines planned and created Palencia, within that approval scheme was the ability to do some commercial development upfront. Hines had always intended to sell that to a commercial developer.”
Joyce said the commercial development make everyday goods and services much more convenient for residents who live in the area.
“The immediate ones will be a drugstore, a couple of banks, professional offices and retail services such as dry cleaners, restaurants and light shopping for gifts and accessories,” he said.
Joyce said he doesn’t currently have any leases signed in his development but he does have letters of intent that he hopes will come to fruition.
“We are in discussions with a dry cleaners, a salon, a couple of restaurants, a quick service restaurant and we are pursuing a couple of banks,” he said. “And we are well down the road in doing a child development center.”
Joyce Development did a postal count delivery statistics report from May 2005 that showed an active population count of 37,172 in the 32095 and 32084 zip code areas, which are the immediate market.
The study also showed an active population count of 49,149 in the zip code areas 32080 and 32086, which incorporate the balance of the St. Augustine area.
“We needed at least the minimal level of residential development in the Palencia area before the retailers we are talking to would have any reason to put a store out there,” said Joyce.
Joyce said the company will start construction in January on four of the six buildings totaling about 70,000 feet and will proceed with the remaining two buildings by the end of 2006.
The first four buildings are expected to be complete by September. Joyce said that his development and The Ferber Company’s development will not be in competition, but rather complement and support each other.
The Ferber Company’s development
The Ferber Company is developing a 10.5-acre site on U.S. 1 just south of Palencia’s main entrance. It will include a Walgreen’s pharmacy, a People’s First Bank and additional retail space. The development is not yet named.
“We are in the permitting stage and trying to get site plan approval,” said Jeff Combs of the Ferber Company.
Combs said his development primarily will be a neighborhood shopping center to serve the people who live nearby.
Though Ferber has the drug store and bank in the bag, Combs said he would also like to get a grocery store on his site.
“The development will serve the residents that are coming to the area,” he said. “The majority of business will come from people who live in a five-mile radius, some of whom are also commuters, so there is an overlap in the two groups. Most people who commute along U.S. 1 will also live in that area.”
We all know that retail follows rooftops. The number of people living in an area determines what will go there.
“There has to be a certain number of people living in an area to get any retailers to go there,” he said.
That particular stretch of U.S. 1 — with Palencia, Kensington, Las Calinas and eventually Nocatee — is such a dynamic area that many new residents will be moving into the area to support the retail.
“Nocatee will have a south gate entry into the community off of U.S. 1 not too far north of Palencia, so it is reasonable to assume the people that live in the south end of Nocatee will shop on U.S. 1, especially if they work in St. Augustine and are going home that way,” said Combs.
Because Ferber is so early in the development stage, no development time lines are set in stone.
“We are several months away from getting all of our permits,” said Combs.