Jacksonville’s Autobahn Indoor Speedway is closer to construction in Southside, where the Tampa-based company is developing an indoor go-kart racetrack.
Bill Harris, general manager of the Autobahn Indoor Speedway in Jessup, Md., said Friday it probably will open in May.
The city is reviewing a building permit application for the project in almost 80,000 square feet of space at 6601 Executive Park Court N.
No contractor is specified. The owner is LSOP 3 FL 3 LLC, which is Greenfield Partners, the investor that bought the building as part of its acquisition of the Liberty Property Trust portfolio.
The $100,000 remodeling project includes the track and support areas as well as the lobby, board room, meeting space, common areas, conference space and the track waiting area.
EMPAD Architecture of Clearwater is the architect.
Autobahn plans to open a $2 million Jacksonville facility and it will employ 35 people.
Autobahn’s first track opened in May in Jessup, Md. Autobahn Managing Director David Larson said in December that about 60,000 square feet of the space will be used for two tracks. The remaining space will include meeting rooms and party rooms.
He said participant costs are $19.99 for 14 laps and three races for $40 Monday-Thursday.
Larson said the Jacksonville hours will be the same as Jessup’s: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-midnight Friday; 10 a.m.-midnight Saturday; and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday.
Greenfield closes on rest of Liberty property
Costar.com reported last week that Liberty Property Trust closed on its disposition of 48 properties totaling about 2.6 million square feet of office and flex space along with 19 acres to Connecticut-based Greenfield Partners LLC with Somerset Properties for $329.6 million.
Costar.com said the transaction marks the final part of the previously announced sale that saw Greenfield buy 49 properties from Liberty in December for $367.7 million.
The second purchase comprised 23 properties in Maryland, 24 properties in New Jersey and one property in Pennsylvania.
Costar.com said the two sales mark the latest steps in Liberty’s asset-repositioning program, in which it plans to increase its ownership of industrial property and reduce its exposure to office space in non-core markets.
Liberty’s Jacksonville properties were part of the first sale. Liberty Property Trust sold its portfolio of 32 Jacksonville buildings along with 115 undeveloped acres for more than $197 million to Greenfield Partners LLC.
$13M Cecil project OK’d
The city approved construction of a 510,000-square-foot warehouse at Cecil Commerce Center. The Conlan Co. will build the $12.88 million project at 12970 Normandy Blvd.
The project comprises a tilt panel warehouse and completion of the associated site work for auto and truck parking.
As the Daily Record reported Dec. 19, Hillwood Investment Properties applied for a building permit for the project, which is its first speculative building at Cecil Commerce Center.
Hillwood is developing the Alliance Florida at Cecil Commerce Center.
As a speculative building, no tenant was identified. The building is designed to be the first phase of a 1 million-square-foot structure.
Memorial remodeling emergency department
Memorial Hospital has started a $3.6 million renovation of the emergency department at its 3625 University Blvd. S. medical center. The project should be completed in midsummer.
Adam Landau, senior marketing and communications specialist, said Memorial Hospital was outgrowing the space.
“We also want to improve the look and feel of the ED, as well as add a Pediatric ExpressCare to accommodate the growing number of kids we are treating,” he said.
He said the project will allow the addition of five emergency treatment rooms in the main emergency department and expand the ExpressCare area to include a dedicated eight-bed Pediatric ExpressCare treatment area to be staffed around the clock with pediatric-trained nurses and physicians.
A city building permit application shows Dana B. Kenyon Co. is the contractor for a $1.5
million project to renovate 17,700 square feet in the emergency department.
Waste Pro adding CNG fueling station
Longwood-based Waste Pro announced in November that it opened two compressed natural gas fueling facilities in Palm Coast and Daytona Beach and that it was starting construction of a CNG complex in Jacksonville.
The city is reviewing site plans and a building-permit application for the $1.6 million fueling addition at 2940 Strickland St.
J.R. Leonard Construction Co. is the contractor and Stillwater Technologies Inc. is the architect.
Site plans refer to the installation of a new CNG fueling system to serve the owner’s CNG-powered trucks.
Division Manager Dane Connell said the site was an existing location being converted to CNG fueling. He said the project could be completed in six to eight weeks after permit approval.
Connell said Waste Pro is one of three waste collection companies under contract with the city of Jacksonville and Neptune Beach.
Waste Pro said the West Jacksonville location is able to time-fill 50 trucks, with the capability to expand to handle 80 trucks and is expected to be completed in early 2014.
Time-fill stations are used primarily by fleets and for vehicles with large tanks that refuel at a central location every night, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Waste Pro says it is one the country’s fastest growing privately owned waste collection, recycling, processing and disposal companies, operating in eight southeastern states.
It serves more than 2 million residential and commercial customers from more than 70 operating locations and maintains more than 165 exclusive municipal contracts and franchises.
Tire Kingdom plans Argyle site
Tire Kingdom intends to build an almost 7,000-square-foot location on 1.2 acres at 9628 Argyle Forest Blvd. No contractor is listed for the $550,000 project.
Construction pending for Verizon Wireless at Town Center
The city is reviewing a construction permit application for the 4,000-square-foot Verizon Wireless at 4948 Big Island Drive store in The Markets at Town Center.
The Parkes Companies Inc. of Franklin, Tenn., is listed as the contractor and it owns the property through PDG JAX I LLC, which paid $1.2 million for property and took out a $2.04 million mortgage from Avenue Bank.
The deed and mortgage were issued Oct. 28.
The quarter-acre site was considered the last undeveloped parcel for sale at The Markets at Town Center.
The shell building for Verizon Wireless carries a $350,000 construction cost.
The interior build-out would be separately permitted.
The Markets at Town Center is adjacent to the St. Johns Town Center.
Plans reviewed for Collins Walmart
Gatlin Development Co. Inc. filed site plans for its proposed 44-acre Collins Crossing in Southwest Jacksonville that will be anchored by a Walmart Supercenter.
The project also is called Collins Plaza at gatlindc.com.
Fort Lauderdale-based Gatlin, which also is the developer of area Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery stores, proposes a 187,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter on the Collins site.
The Collins center is at northwest Collins Road and the Interstate 295 West Beltway. It is bordered on the south by Collins Road.
Groundbreaking could take place during the second quarter. Walmart already has 15 area Supercenters.
Plans show the proposed 186,933-square-foot Walmart Supercenter along with restaurants, shops and a gas station.
Site plans filed with the city indicate the Walmart, three flex-retail buildings totaling 29,700 square feet and three outparcels of 1.3 to 2 acres.
The consultant, engineer, surveyor and landscape architect is CPH Inc., and the agent is Onsite Environmental Consulting LLC.
The property is owned by Park City Farms LLC and Olsen Farms LLC, whose manager is real-estate company Thomas Dumas Inc.
Meanwhile, Gatlin also is working to convert the former Food Lion at Wilson Square into a Walmart Neighborhood Market. Gatlin, which developed the area’s first four Walmart Neighborhood Markets that opened last year, has been planning two
more.
Neighborhood Markets are Walmart grocery stores. About 40,000 square feet in size, they offer groceries, pharmacy services and household goods, but are much smaller than Walmart Supercenters.
The first four markets that opened are in Gatlin properties in Arlington, Mandarin, St. Johns County and Clay County.
WBO award finalists
Women Business Owners of North Florida announced the finalists for the 2014 Women in Business Awards that will be made March 11.
The event is noon-1:30 p.m. at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. The trade show is 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
The keynote speaker is Billie Dragoo, president and CEO of RepuCare and the chair and CEO of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
For information, visit wbonfl.org.
Categories and finalists are:
Established Entrepreneur:
• Rose Conry, StaffTime
•?Sherry Davidson, Davidson Realty, Davidson Property, Davidson Referral Network
• Patti Hughes, Natural Life
Up and Coming Entrepreneur:
•?Jennifer Adams, Crop Creative Media
•?Lisa Almeida, The Freedom Boat Club
•?Ellen Sullivan, Doctors Express
Corporate Leader:
• Elaine Johnson, Florida Blue
• Rochelle Bailey Price, Colo5
• Nell Robinson, Mayo Clinic
Pioneer:
• Bonnie Barnes, North Florida Land Trust
•?Bobbi de Cordova-Hanks, Bosom Buddies
•?Elizabeth Paulson, JA Girl$, Junior Achievement of North Florida
Women of Distinction to be honored
The Girl Scouts of Gateway Council will honor six Jacksonville women as Women of Distinction at the 25th annual awards event March 12.
Doors open at 11:30 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, followed by lunch and the program from noon-1:30 p.m.
Individual tickets are $65 and sponsorships start at $1,000.
For information, visit girlscouts-gateway.org.
With the newest honorees, the Girl Scouts will have named 150 Women of Distinction since 1989. Those honored this year will be:
• Pamela Chally, dean, Brooks College of Health at the University of North Florida
• Jennifer Chapman, director of public affairs, Fidelity Investments
• Marsha Oliver, chief officer, public relations and marketing, Duval County Public Schools
• Allison Korman Shelton, vice president of marketing and community relations, Stellar
• Nancy Soderberg, president and CEO of Soderberg Solutions and a former U.S. ambassador
• Carmen Townsend, mother of three children, including the late J.T. Townsend, who became a philanthropist after suffering a spinal-cord injury in a high school football game
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466