From the Daily Record
Jacksonville-based Gate Petroleum Co. continues to expand, this time contracting to buy 37.6 acres along Philips Highway in the Bayard area south of the Florida 9B interchange.
Gate said it is buying the property for $2.7 million to expand its convenience store chain. In addition to developing a store, it will develop and sell outparcels to commercial users.
A drainage plan filed with the St. Johns River Water Management District shows six parcels, ranging from 1.4 to 2.6 acres, totaling 11.7 acres.
Gate stores have been developed on sites of 2.6 acres or so. The company has 72 stores in five states – Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and North and South Carolina.
Gate said the land purchase from the Diocese of St. Augustine has not been completed yet.
The Diocese says in the Water Management District filing that it is under contract to sell the property, called the “Bayard Retail Center,” to Gate.
Gate, with 40 convenience stores in Northeast Florida and 28 in Duval County alone, also is developing a gas station/convenience store near St. Johns Town Center, intends to build another along Emerson Street at Interstate 95 and has been named on site plans by Gatlin Development Co. for a store at Collins Road and I-295.
The Diocese notified the Water Management District on Sept. 10 that it was under contract to sell the Bayard property, which is an undeveloped site south of Gran Bay Parkway and east of Philips Highway, to Gate. The Diocese wants to transfer its application to Gate.
Duval County property records show the 2012 property market value as $518,520.
The Diocese says it was surplus property and it had no specific plans to develop it.
It said the property sale should be completed in October.