The City approved two sign permits Tuesday for Office Depot at 9450 Arlington Expressway, indicating a move is pending for the office-supplies retailer from a larger location around the corner.
Southeastern Lighting Solutions Inc. is the contractor for the two signs at a project cost of $1,200.
The City has been reviewing a construction permit to remodel space at 9450 Arlington Expressway, in the Regency Pointe shopping center.
The permit application shows Office Depot wants to remodel 8,078 square feet of space at project cost of $189,812.
Office Depot currently operates a 26,000-square-foot store in Regency Court at 9230 Arlington Expressway.
Based on the application, the Daily Record reported in December that Office Depot appears to be downsizing its Regency location from a big box to its smaller concept.
The permit application shows a tenant remodeling project to the "2012 Prototype" and the contracting job was out for bid. The application in December indicated a cost of $75,000 but records now show that has increased.
Office Depot, based in Boca Raton, has more than 1,100 stores in North America.
The NorthJersey.com news website reported last year the Office Depot chain was developing new-format stores that are one-fifth the size of its traditional big-box stores. It quoted company President Kevin Peters saying the big-box format "just doesn't work anymore."
The news site reported development of a 5,000-square-foot Office Depot in Hoboken, N.J., that stocked about half the number of products carried in the 26,000-square-foot stores. It said the company expected to downsize about 100 stores a year, or 10 percent of its store base.
"The 26,000-square-foot store just doesn't work anymore," Peters, Office Depot's president for North America, said during a tour of the Hoboken store. "They're too big. They're too hard to shop.''
The news site said Office Depot discovered it can shrink store sizes without slashing sales. "We're getting 90 percent of the sales in a fraction of the space," Peters said.
It reported Peters said all Office Depot stores will be downsized as existing leases expire.
OfficeDepot.com shows at least eight Duval County stores.
It's unclear what the pending merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax would mean for the move toward smaller stores.
OfficeMax has five Jacksonville stores, including one at Regency Plaza at 9756 Atlantic Blvd., not far from the Office Depot.
Bloomberg.com reported Feb. 20 that Office Depot Inc. agreed to buy OfficeMax Inc. for $1.17 billion in a bid to revive a retailer that's been losing sales to online rivals and Staples Inc., the largest U.S. office-supplies chain.
Reuters.com reported the same day the combined entity's name, headquarters and CEO are all undetermined.
CNBC.com reported that Staples has 39.9 percent of the U.S. office-supplies market, Office Depot has 19.2 percent and OfficeMax holds 15.7 percent. The combined market share of 34.9 percent still leaves a merged company in the No. 2 position.
OfficeMax is based in Naperville, Ill., near Chicago, and Staples is headquartered in Framingham, Mass., near Boston.
Office Depot did not respond to questions about the move.
JPMorgan Chase plans St. Johns bank
JPMorgan Chase proposes to build a bank with three drive-thru lanes at the Bartram Walk West Village at 332 Florida 13 N. in St. Johns County.
LAI Engineering of St. Augustine filed an application with the St. Johns River Water Management District for the project.
Site development plans show the developer as Chase in Boca Raton. Plans show a 3,456-square-foot building on almost an acre.
Chaffee Road retail project under review
First Coast Energy LLP filed plans for an 18.5-acre retail project along Chaffee Road in West Jacksonville that features three buildings.
While plans show a CVS/pharmacy, a Zaxby's restaurant and an AmSouth bank, which merged into Regions Financial Corp., those businesses were included for conceptual purposes, according to the property owner.
Stuart Ratcliffe, listed as the representative with First Coast Energy LLP, said the plans were conceptual.
"This is just for concept purposes. No users are actually working the site," Ratcliffe said.
First Coast Energy filed an application with the St. Johns River Water Management District for the project on the west side of Chaffee Road south of Interstate 10 in West Jacksonville.
England-Thims & Miller Inc. is the project engineer. The surveyor is Atlantic Gulf Surveying Co. Inc.
"The project is in the very preliminary stages," said England-Thims & Miller Project Manager Paul Hutchinson. He referred questions to Ratcliffe.
The project is described as three commercial structures and associated infrastructure including new parking and utilities. It would be completed in one phase.
The master site plan, dated Feb. 26, shows the three structures would sit south of the existing First Coast energy gas station.
The 18.5 acres carry a taxable value of $528,900, according to Duval County property records. About 4 acres would be developed.
Regions, based in Birmingham, Ala., merged with AmSouth in 2006.
No plans appear imminent for Regions Bank.
"We have expressed no intentions for that land," said Regions spokesman Mel Campbell.
Zaxby's spokeswoman Alexa Orndoff said there were no confirmed plans. "I reached out to Zaxby's but they do not have anything confirmed yet for a location there," she said.
CVS Public Relations Director Mike DeAngelis said much the same. "We have no plans for a store at this location," he said.
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