First Coast No More Homeless Pets bought Westside property last week to develop a clinic, warehouse and offices to serve as a second location to its North Jacksonville headquarters.
To recognize major donors, the Westside project will be The First Coast No More Homeless Pets Mary Lou Russell Animal Welfare Complex and one of the three buildings there will become the Joseph A. Strasser Veterinary Hospital.
Russell and Strasser both donated $200,000 toward the project, said First Coast No More Homeless Pets Founder and Executive Director Rick DuCharme.
The nonprofit, whose mission is to end the killing of dogs and cats in shelters, paid $500,000 for property at 464 Cassat Ave. It bought the site Nov. 17 from ATC Realty One LLC, which was representing Wells Fargo Bank.
On Friday, The Jacksonville Bank made a $1.125 million mortgage to the nonprofit. Both the deed and mortgage were filed Monday with the Duval County Clerk of Court.
First Coast No More Homeless Pets, based at 6817 Norwood Ave., offers spay/neuter services; a low-cost veterinary clinic; adoption information; and more. Strasser is a major donor there, as well. The site is called The Joseph A. Strasser Animal Health & Welfare Building.
The Cassat Avenue project will allow the nonprofit to expand its low-cost veterinary services to include treatments not available at the Norwood location.
DuCharme said that would include in-house treatment of contagious disease with two isolation suites. The Cassat location also would provide a full dental suite, radiology and two surgery suites for operations other than spay/neuter.
He said all spay/neuter services will continue to be done at Norwood. Both locations would operate seven days a week.
The city has been reviewing plans for the nonprofit to convert the 1.23-acre West Jacksonville site into a clinic, warehouse and offices. The existing buildings, previously a tile business, will be renovated.
DuCharme anticipates a total investment of about $2.3 million.
First Coast No More Homeless Pets has asked the city’s Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund for a $350,152 loan and $233,435 grant that need City Council approval.
“As long as that goes through, we have enough funds to
complete the construction,” DuCharme said.
The Northwest Fund made a $300,000 low-interest loan and $100,000 grant to the nonprofit for the Norwood clinic that opened in April 2009.
The application for the Cassat loan said the nonprofit has fulfilled the requirements of the 2009 incentives, meeting repayment terms and exceeding the 50 jobs it promised by employing 73.
It expects to create 47 new full-time jobs at the Cassat site.
DuCharme said demolition site work will start immediately and construction should start after the first of the year toward a July opening, thanks to gap financing by board member Lee Conway and The Jacksonville Bank.
“It is in pretty rough shape right now but will be transformed over the next seven to nine months into a hive of animal welfare activity,” he said.
Still, DuCharme said more than $600,000 is needed to fund equipment for the veterinary hospital.
To raise funds, two of the three buildings in the new Russell complex remain available for naming rights. DuCharme said there also are “unlimited sponsorship opportunities in the clinic with room and equipment sponsors.”
“We are hopeful we can raise enough money during construction to have the Joseph A. Strasser Veterinary Hospital fully equipped by opening date,” he said.
DuCharme said the Driver, McAfee, Peek & Hawthorne law firm contributed its services for the closing.
Epic Theatres to start construction in early 2015
Epic Theatres’ 12-screen theater in Oakleaf Station is a $4 million construction project. The total investment rises when furnishings and equipment are added.
Target Contractors Inc. is the contractor for the project, which at first was designed as a 14-screen complex. The city is reviewing the building-permit application.
Epic Theatres President Frank DeMarsh said Tuesday site restraints led to a smaller theater. It will seat about 1,000 people, he said.
The DeLand-based company announced in May it signed an agreement to open the new movie theater in Southwest Jacksonville. Oakleaf Station Land Trust, part of Sleiman Enterprises, is the developer.
The footprint of the structure is about 43,000 square feet, plans show.
“We feel it was a nice retail node in the west side of the city and we felt there was a void there for theaters,” DeMarsh said.
He said it should be open by this time next year.
The theater will feature a lobby bar, stadium seating, wall-to-wall screens, enhanced sound systems, and digital presentation in each auditorium. It also will showcase one EPIC XL stadium auditorium with a 70-foot-wide curved silver screen and state-of-the-art Dolby digital sound.
Hobby Lobby site work tops $1M
Developer Ramco-Gershenson Inc. will spend at least $1 million in site work to prepare for Hobby Lobby at Parkway Shops next to River City Marketplace in North Jacksonville.
Ed Eickhoff, vice president of development and redevelopment for Ramco-Gershenson, said the site work will encompass about 5 acres.
Ramco-Gershenson, through Ramco Parkway LLC, applied for a permit from the city for site-work only at 15324 Max Leggett Parkway. Plans show the 55,000-square-foot Hobby Lobby planned there in the second phase of Parkway Shops. It is expected to open in fall 2015.
Dakenna Development Inc. is the contractor. Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. is the engineer.
Hobby Lobby has four areas stores already – two in Jacksonville in Regency and Mandarin and one each in Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine.
Site plans also show two stores next to Hobby Lobby – 13,438 and 13,600 square feet – and a “future major” of more than 134,000 square feet.
The Parkway Shops project is under development by Ramco-Gershenson Inc. of Farmington Hills, Mich., which also developed the adjacent 900,000-square-foot River City Marketplace.
The first phase of Parkway Shops features Dick’s Sporting Goods, Marshalls, Ulta and Newk’s Eatery, along with outparcels that include BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Mellow Mushroom, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Wendy’s and Express Oil & Lube.
Retail notes
• Marilyn Monroe Nail Lounge will join Brooklyn Station on Riverside next to Lucy’s Gift Boutique, which is next to The Fresh Market.
• The LunchBOX waxing salon expects to open Jan. 15 in Riverside at 1661 Riverside Ave., No. 126. The Boise, Idaho-based company operates in 11 states and Puerto Rico.
• Global Diamonds opened over the weekend at The Markets at Town Center. Owned by diamond dealer Doron Arabov, the direct diamond store at 4870 Big Island Drive, Suite 1, is the company’s flagship location and U.S. headquarters and it plans to expand in other cities. Birko Roland, vice president, has relocated to Jacksonville to manage the opening of Global Diamonds. The company will have nearly 20 employees in North Florida.
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