The rumors are circulating again, this time like this: Macy's is looking at Jacksonville to develop a department store, rejected one site and has decided on St. Johns Town Center.
Television advertising and the recent ad in The Florida Times-Union supporting Florida's Teacher of the Year no doubt fueled the speculation.
The response from Macy's:
"Nothing new to report. As you know, our policy is not to disclose where we may or may not be looking for store locations," said Jim Sluzewski, senior vice president of corporate communications and external affairs with Macy's Inc.
"Whenever we have a new store announcement to make, we make it. But other than that, we do not comment," he said.
"Note that Macy's does national broadcast advertising that appears from coast to coast, and that Florida Teacher of the Year is a statewide program," he said.
It's called the Florida Department of Education/Macy's Teacher of the Year.
Lyndsay Rossman, director of marketing and business development at St. Johns Town Center, was direct:
"There are no plans for Macy's at this time," she said.
Sluzewski said there are 800 Macy's stores in the United States and 61 in Florida. The Florida stores nearest Jacksonville are in Gainesville, Daytona Beach, Ocala and Sanford, according to macys.com.
Macy's Inc. maintains corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York. It reported fiscal 2012 sales of $27.7 billion. The Macy's brand operates in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, as well as the macys.com site.
Its Bloomingdale's brand includes 36 department stores and home stores in 10 states, the bloomingdales.com site, 12 Bloomingdale's Outlet stores in nine states, and a licensed store in Dubai.
Its workforce includes about 175,700 employees.
There's long been an expectation that Macy's will open in Jacksonville.
The precursor to Macy's in Florida was Burdines, known as The Florida Store.
Federated Department Stores Inc. owned Macy's and Burdines and combined the two in the state in early 2004. Cincinnati-based Federated also put the Macy's name on its other brands nationwide.
A December 2004 report in The Florida Times-Union quoted a Burdines-Macy's executive that the time had come for the chain to open in Jacksonville.
"I would hope we would have a major presence," said senior vice president of marketing Carey Watson in the report. "Jacksonville can support more than one store."
Later, Watson said, "Jacksonville is the single biggest opportunity for us in Florida."
The newspaper report, now almost 10 years old, said Burdines, which had been in business for 106 years, had been reviewing Jacksonville since at least 1987 and possibly much longer.
In fact, Burdines was one of three stores announced in July 1989 as tenants for the proposed Deerwood Fashion Centre at northeast Butler and Southside boulevards, but the mall developer scrapped those plans within months and joined in the initial development of The Avenues mall, which was under construction several miles south.
Calling itself The Florida Store, Burdines started in 1898 and paid "a lot of attention" to the South Florida area for the first 75 to 80 years, Watson said in the 2004 Times-Union report.
"I just don't think Jacksonville, for some reason, has ever clicked," he said.
Why was that? "The right opportunity has not come," was his response.
By mid-March 2005, coincidentally the same time the St. Johns Town Center opened, the chain was called Macy's, having dropped hyphenated names with sister chains across the country.
Federated Department Stores Inc. was renamed Macy's Inc. in June 2007.
When announced in June 2000, St. Johns Town Center developers hinted that the center eventually would feature the likes of a Macy's, and observers were disappointed when the first phase did not carry such a banner retail name new to the market.
The anchor department store in the first phase was a two-story, 240,000-square-foot flagship Dillard's, which had a presence in the area.
At the time, Developers Ben Carter Properties of Atlanta and Simon Property Group of Indianapolis also explained they earmarked property for a second retail phase of 425,625 square feet that could include Macy's, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and similar stores. Nordstrom has since been announced as an anchor in Phase 3 and is expected to open in October 2014.
In the 2004 report, asked specifically about Macy's, Simon corporate public relations manager Les Morris issued a statement that "Simon Property Group and Ben Carter Properties continue to hold meaningful discussions with prominent department stores interested in coming to Jacksonville."
Watson said in 2004 it takes a year or two after choosing a site to open a store. Asked whether Jacksonville shoppers could expect a Macy's within five years, though, Watson said, "I would hope so."
However, retail plans nationwide were soon put on hold. The Great Recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, and the economy has continued to struggle.
Value Place construction applications
The City is reviewing the permit applications for Value Place extended-stay hotels at 6900 103rd St. in West Jacksonville and 10520 Balmoral Circle W. in North Jacksonville.
EMJ Hospitality is listed as the contractor for the Westside hotel at a project cost of more than $3.4 million. The FaverGray Co. is shown as the contractor for the North Jacksonville location at a project cost of $3.5 million.
Each is a four-story, 45,528-square-foot hotel. The Daily Record previously reported they are designed with 124 units each.
The ValuePlace.com site shows Value Place hotels operate at 8341 Dames Point Crossing Blvd. in Arlington and at 3425 Saland Way at Beach Boulevard in Southside.
Monument Target expanding with Starbucks
An application was filed with the City to remodel the coffee area of the Target store on Monument Road for Starbucks.
Target Corp. wants to replace the coffee area at the store at 444 Monument Road with a 1,456-square-foot Starbucks at a project cost of $300,000.
The contractor is shown as Williams Co. Southeast.
Former Gate property becoming conservation
A 1.29-acre site in Arlington where Gate Petroleum Co. formerly operated is slated for conservation.
District City Council member Clay Yarborough said he was unsure of its use as a passive park by the public.
“Even being a passive park, it would probably need to meet some minimum safety standards and get City approval if the public were to be permitted on it,” he said.
He said that would include ensuring all small debris pieces are removed, addressing any environmental concerns from the fuel tanks being underground and from the dry cleaner’s former operation, proper access and fencing, and other issues.
The Council Land Use and Zoning Committee introduced two ordinances to change the land use designation of the property from neighborhood commercial to conservation.
The triangular parcel is at the split of McCormick and Fort Caroline roads. The vacant neighborhood center housed Gate and several retail and service stores.
The site is owned by Gate and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
Gate opened a larger convenience store and gas station April 24 across the street at 11040 McCormick Road.
The City issued permits Wednesday for the demolition of the former Gate store and of the adjacent retail shops at a combined project cost of $5,100.
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