The City approved a construction permit Friday for Danis Construction LLC to renovate a 34,000-square-foot building that formerly housed SuperStock for use by Vistakon, the Jacksonville-based division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc.
It is a $1.355 million construction project, the permit shows. Another permit calls for $77,000 in interior demolition work.
Vistakon was also in the news last week when Gov. Rick Scott used it as his site to announce his proposed manufacturing tax-break legislation.
Vistakon, which makes the Acuvue brand of disposable contact lenses, has developed a 661,174-square-foot headquarters, manufacturing and distribution center at 7500 Centurion Parkway and has expansion plans on that campus. Its major project is a 104,227-square-foot expansion of its distribution center.
In addition to its plans to lease the SuperStock building, the company also has been leasing other area space for its functions as it expands.
"Johnson & Johnson Vision Care has begun construction for an expansion of its Jacksonville distribution facility," said spokeswoman Betsy McNiel in a previous statement.
"The additional space will be used to meet growing capacity requirements. The company also signed a lease for an additional office building in the Deerwood Park area. That space is being renovated to meet business needs," said McNiel, manager of global communications and PR for Johnson & Johnson Vision Care.
The permit application shows renovations to 18,447 square feet on the first floor and 15,007 square feet on the second floor.
First-floor plans show an auditorium, sales areas, commercial operations, conference space, finance and information technology offices and a collaboration video area. Second-floor plans show a marketing area, executive office areas, a boardroom, conference areas, multipurpose space and other uses.
It also shows space for ODLean, whose website, odlean.com, says it is part of The Vision Care Institute, a limited liability company in the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. Its consulting services address optometric practices, from glasses to medical to staff and cash flow.
McNiel said the company has about 1,800 employees in Jacksonville but "no significant increase in hiring is expected for the distribution center."
The Jacksonville campus consists of office, research, laboratory, manufacturing and distribution areas.
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