From the Daily Record
Earth Fare opened its first Jacksonville store Aug. 20 and wants to add at least two to three more.
“We think this is at least a three-four store market,” said Earth Fare Chief Financial Officer Scott Little after the ribbon-cutting and grand opening of the chain’s first store at Kernan and Atlantic boulevards.
Little said Westside and Mandarin were two of the areas under consideration, but did not specify any sites for the North Carolina organic and natural foods chain.
The company, whose tag line is “Real Food for Everyone,” says its food never contains artificial ingredients, high-fructose corn syrup or antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones in fresh meat or dairy.
Earth Fare is based near Asheville, N.C. It began in 1975 and, with the Jacksonville opening, operates 33 stores in nine states, including a Florida store in Tallahassee.
The 150 Riverside Ave. location in the Shoppes on Riverside will open at 8 a.m. with grand-opening activities including chef demonstrations, food samplings and drawings for Fresh Market gift cards.
The 24,800-square-foot store will feature a bakery, full-service meat counter and more than 200 imported and domestic cheeses.
“We look forward to introducing The Fresh Market’s concept of quality perishables, excellent customer service and a unique atmosphere to an expanded customer base, and we look forward to offering neighboring communities a rewarding new food shopping experience,” said Craig Carlock, company president and CEO, in a news release.
It will be the 39th store in Florida and fourth in the Jacksonville area.
A Fortune 500 company is seeking to build a large advanced manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, creating 500 jobs and investing up to $91 million in capital investments in exchange for $15.4 million in taxpayer incentives.
The company’s identity would remain confidential, city officials said, until the first quarter of 2015. City officials have signed confidentiality agreements with the company for the deal simply known as “Project Speed.”
The confidential company is proposing to add the 500 “highly skilled manufacturing ” jobs with an average wage of $48,850.
Peter Anderson, president-elect of the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Association Northeast Florida Chapter, said the area has been “hit extremely hard by soft demand for office and industrial properties over the past six years.”
“A deal of this magnitude would perhaps provide confidence for others to invest in Jacksonville as well,” said Anderson, who also is vice president of Pattillo Industrial Real Estate.
David Garrard’s gym to open at Harbour Village
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard and his wife, Mary, are on track with plans to open three Retro Fitness gyms.
Plans are now in review to open the first at Harbour Village, near Queen’s Harbour Yacht & Country Club. Retro Fitness in October announced Garrard would open the first of three of its gym within a year.
The 10-year-old Retro Fitness chain, based in Colts Neck, N.J., has 110 operating units and has franchise territories available in all 50 states.
In October, Retro Fitness said expansion plans called for 300 gyms in the next three years.
Jacksonville-based Demetree Brothers Inc. is clearing a high-profile corner at Emerson Street and Philips Highway, positioning it for uses such as a hotel, bank, pharmacy and fast-food restaurants.
A 35-year-old vacant call center is being demolished and Demetree Brothers will design the infrastructure for the land to prepare it for sale. Demetree, a real estate development, construction management and property management company, has unsuccessfully attempted to sell or lease the building, which has been vacant for almost 12 years.
Called the Shops of Philips on a mobility-fee application, the site is proposed as a multiphase commercial project that could include:
• A 120-room, 50,000-square-foot hotel
• A 5,000-square-foot bank with four drive-thru lanes
• A 15,000-square-foot pharmacy with a drive-thru
• Two fast-food restaurants totaling 5,900 square feet of space
St. Johns Town Center will celebrate its Phase III grand opening Oct. 8, which features the area’s first Nordstrom department store.
The retail giant will be joined by eight other stores: Arhaus Furniture, Disney Store, Boston Proper, Free People, 2 Model Citizen, Natural Life, Swim ‘n Sport, and Yankee Candle.
The eight smaller stores open at 10 a.m. Oct. 8. Nordstrom opens to the public at 10 a.m. Oct. 10.
Nordstrom will host a grand opening gala, benefitting area nonprofits, from 7-10 p.m. Oct. 8 at the store for patrons buying $75 tickets. On Saturday, Oct. 11, St. Johns Town Center will host a street festival from 2-6 p.m. in the two blocks adjacent to River City Drive.
San Marco’s new Kitchen on San Marco restaurant should open in early spring, the project owner announced Thursday.
“I could not be more thrilled about the grand opening of our new restaurant, Kitchen on San Marco,” said Randy Mueller, group president of Education Corporation of America, in a news release.
Education Corporation of America is the parent company of Virginia College in Jacksonville, which owns and will operate Kitchen on San Marco.
Kitchen on San Marco, at 1402 San Marco Blvd., will serve lunch and dinner as well as Sunday brunch. It will feature dining, private dining and booths as well as a bar. The dining areas should seat 125 to 130 patrons, and the bar will add another 15 seats.
The company said the restaurant’s menu will consist of “fresh, contemporary American food,” which will be served in small plates or bowls or as larger traditional entrées. It said whenever possible, locally sourced ingredients will be used “to provide patrons with the fresh, bright flavors of the region while providing the healthiest, highest-quality foods at an affordable price.”
It also will offer an extensive selection of fine wines, the release said.
The news release said about $600,000 is expected to be spent on the 4,533-square-foot full-service restaurant.
Kitchen on San Marco will be modeled after Kitchen on George, the Culinard restaurant in Mobile, Ala. Education Corporation of America said Kitchen on George recently was voted “Best Chef,” “Best First Date Place,” “Best Restaurant Wine List,” “Best Happy Hour Bar,” “Perfect Martini” and “Best Bartenderess” in Lagniappe magazine’s 2014 Nappie Awards.
The area’s sixth Walmart Neighborhood Market should open next spring at the Village Shoppes at San Pablo in the Intracoastal West area of Jacksonville.
It will lease 49,433 square feet of space at the center.
Neighborhood Markets are Walmart grocery stores. At an average 38,000 square feet in size, they offer groceries, pharmacy services and household goods, but are much smaller than the average 182,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenters.
The first three Northeast Florida Neighborhood Markets opened in June 2013.
Publix Super Markets Inc. continues its pursuit of renovating its Duval County grocery stores, with a proposed remodeling of its center in Bartram Park at 13820 Old St. Augustine Road.
The 44,840-square-foot construction project would cost $575,000.
The store is among at least a dozen stores that Publix is renovating or rebuilding in Jacksonville. Constructions costs for those projects total $9.7 million.