Atlanta-based developer Ben Carter is testing the market to see what his half-ownership of the St. Johns Town Center would be worth.
“I may or may not sell it,” Carter said this morning.
Carter said the St. Johns Town Center, at Interstate 295 and Gate Parkway, is what the industry refers to as a trophy asset. He developed it with Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group. It opened nine years ago this week.
“It has been a top-performing regional mall ever since we opened it and every expansion we’ve done has continued to be very, very successful, so it’s very appealing to institutional investors,” he said.
Carter said Simon Property Group is the world’s largest owner of retail properties.
“The opportunity for people to partner with Simon Property Group is a very unique investment strategy for institutional investors. We are trying to see what sort of value or partnership interest there might be and if it’s a value that we feel is commensurate with the quality of the asset, we might consider selling it,” he said.
Carter did not say what that value might be and declined to comment on reports that it might be $750 million. The Real Estate Alert newsletter reported Wednesday that bids for Carter’s 50 percent stake in the Town Center “are expected to value the property at up to $750 million, amid intense demand for high-quality retail properties.”
Eastdil Secured, a New York investment bank, is working with Carter to examine the value.
“We are exploring whether or not institutional capital sees the type of value we see,” he said. “And if they do, we will consider selling our interest.”
Carter said Simon Property Group wants to continue to own and operate the St. Johns Town Center. “We have a very good relationship,” he said.
If Carter sells his half, he said Simon’s preference is to find an institutional partner.
St. Johns Town Center is a 1.2 million-square-foot retail and restaurant center at Butler Boulevard and the Interstate 295 East Beltway. It is an open-air lifestyle center and a power center.
Carter’s Atlanta-based Ben Carter Properties in partnership with Simon Property Group transformed more than 200 acres along Butler Boulevard into the region’s major shopping draw.
St. Johns Town Center opened March 18, 2005, and added a second phase that opened Oct. 26, 2007. It brought many retailers to Jacksonville that were new to the market, including Tiffany & Co., Apple, Microsoft, The Cheesecake Factory, The Capital Grille and this fall, Nordstrom.
Now with more than 1.2 million square feet of retail and restaurant space, the Town Center intends to open the Nordstrom wing, with at least eight more retailers, which will add more than 158,000 square feet of retail space.
The Town Center has 11 anchor stores and 175 specialty stores and restaurants.
Simon Property Group owns or has an interest in more than 325 retail real estate properties in North America and Asia comprising about 243 million square feet.
Carter said he sold Ben Carter Properties to his partners in 2012 and that he is active in new developments.
“I’m actually not sure that regional malls or town centers are in great demand in the Southeast, which is my territory,” he said, adding he is developing outlet malls among other projects.
One of Ben Carter Enterprises’ new developments is the Outlet Mall of Georgia, projected to open in spring 2015 with more than 560,000 square feet of stores and restaurants at Interstate 95 and Pooler Parkway. He is working with Steve Tanger, president and CEO of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, to develop the center, now referred to as Tanger Savannah.
Ben Carter Enterprises says on its website that it has developed more than $1.1 billion, and nearly 5 million square feet, of retail and office projects since it was formed in 1993.
It describes itself as a full-service commercial real estate firm with four areas of specialization: development, asset management, leasing and brokerage. It develops and services class A office buildings and a mix of retail properties ranging from regional malls and open-air lifestyle centers to power and strip shopping centers.
Carter said he is working on another fashion outlet in Augusta, Ga., and his new company wants to develop urban retail mixed-use as well. He said he is acquiring 25 buildings in historic downtown Savannah to revitalize Broughton Street for retail development.
Nordstrom name on the way up
The city issued permits for five Nordstrom wall signs on the retailer’s first department store in Jacksonville at 4835 Town Crossing Drive in the St. Johns Town Center. Signsharks Sign Service Inc. is the contractor for the $9,000 project. Nordstrom is expected to open in October.
Jaguars changing broadcast partners
The Jacksonville Jaguars announced Wednesday that the franchise has reached agreements with new flagship radio and TV broadcast partners to carry the team’s on-air programming in and around the Jacksonville area.
The games and official team radio programming will be heard on 1010XL AM and 92.5 FM, the team’s flagship radio partner. In addition, the games will be simulcast on 99.9 Gator Country.
The TV programming, which includes preseason game broadcasts, will return after 11 years to WJXT TV-4, and in addition the preseason games will air in the Orlando market on Channel 4’s partner station, WKMG Local 6. WJXT had been the Jaguars’ local television partner in 2001-02.
The partnerships are multiyear agreements and terms are undisclosed.
The Jaguars’ previous radio affiliation was with WOKV 690 AM and its TV affiliation was with WTEV TV-47.
The television agreement calls for WJXT to air the Jaguars’ non-national preseason games in addition to pregame shows, the Gus Bradley Show and other programs and specials that are mutually developed. The Jaguars expect to announce their preseason schedule next month.
Renda Broadcasting’s 99.9 Gator Country will serve as a promotional partner for the Jaguars and will simulcast Jaguars game broadcasts as part of a six-hour window on every Jaguars game day. The six-hour window will accommodate pregame and postgame shows in addition to the game broadcast.
Mayor’s Commission honors 10 women
The Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women recognized 10 women Tuesday for their contributions to the Jacksonville community, and four were chosen to be featured on a commemorative poster.
The 2014 Women’s History Month Honorees were chosen to epitomize this year’s theme, “Standing Strong, Standing Together: Jacksonville Women Working to Create a Stronger Community.”
The four women featured on the poster are Patricia “Pat” S. Blanchard, director of the Jacksonville Women’s Business Center; Judith A.M. Smith, president and CEO of HandsOn Jacksonville; Ann E.A. Williams, founder and CEO of Sisters Overcomers in Christian Unity Ministry Inc.; and the late Carolyn Williams, associate professor emerita of history at the University of North Florida.
Six more women were recognized: Sandy Bartow, president of the JAX Chamber Foundation and vice president of the chamber’s Entrepreneurial Growth Division; Amy Buggle, founder and executive director of the Developmental Learning Center; Elexia Coleman-Moss, founder and executive director of Empowerment Resources Inc.; Donna Orender, founder and CEO of Orender Unlimited; Susan Ponder-Stansel, president and CEO of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida; and Brenda Simmons-Hutchins, an independent educational consultant and co-creator of the Jacksonville Black History Calendar.
The breakfast reception was hosted at UNF. The poster will be placed in the UNF Thomas G. Carpenter Library, where the permanent collection of commemorative posters is exhibited.
The poster honorees were selected from the nominations received from individuals, women’s organizations, agencies and businesses.
For more information about the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women, visit coj.net/MCSW.
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466