From The Daily Record
Peterbrooke Chocolatier will open a Downtown store at Bay and Laura streets by Easter.
The company also is renovating a former food-processing plant on the western edge of Brooklyn into its corporate base, production plant and tourism center.
The location is less than a mile from 220 Riverside, a major Brooklyn redevelopment.
The candy factory will include a multipurpose education room, an atrium garden with tropical cocoa plants and a Peterbrooke Bake Studio, where cakes, cookies and other baked goods will be created.
Viewing windows into three galleries will allow visitors to watch the production as they tour the factory.
Production at the candy factory should start in February; a grand opening is planned for June.
Peterbrooke Chocolatier was founded in 1983 in San Marco by businesswoman Phyllis Lockwood Geiger, with the mission of bringing back the art of European chocolate making.
Twenty Peterbrooke stores operate in Florida, as well as one in Georgia and one in Alabama.
Pattillo launching $6M spec building
In a sign of a firming economy, Pattillo Industrial Real Estate will start construction on a $6 million speculative 237,000-square-foot building in Westside Industrial Park.
No tenants have been announced. The building will have a 32-foot interior clearance, oversized trucking areas and 60 truck doors, which would be designed to attract tenants similar to those at the park, such as Kraft Foods, BMW and Owens & Minor.
Site construction began in January and is expected to take six months.
Hillwood courting ‘Project Sunshine’
Fresh off the announcement of GE Oil & Gas, Hillwood Investment Properties is working toward at least six more major Cecil Commerce Center projects, including “Project Sunshine” and an undisclosed 1 million-square-foot build-to-suit distribution center that could be doubled in size.
Hillwood, the city’s master developer at Cecil in West Jacksonville, released the information in its third-quarter report to the city. The company said its marketing efforts were significantly boosted by the GE Oil & Gas lease.
Regency area tenants coming, going
Two Regency area stores –– Bed Bath & Beyond and World Market –– posted signs on their stores that they will be closing. Bed Bath & Beyond is at 9337 Atlantic Blvd. and World Market is in Regency Commons at 651 Commerce Center Drive.
Both are holding clearance and liquidation sales. Bed Bath & Beyond refers customers to three other area locations. World Market has two other area stores.
Also, The Wet Seal closed its Regency Square Mall store, according to mall general manager Jim Kramer. The California-based chain, a fashion retailer for teen girls and young women, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
Meanwhile, Deerfield Beach-based Youfit Health Clubs plans a location in the Regency area. The club opened its first Northeast Florida club in September in the Gateway Town Center.
Wicked Barley Brewing Co. on tap for year-end
Wicked Barley Brewing Co. is completing architectural plans and hopes to close financing in February for a brewery at Baymeadows Road and Goodby’s Creek.
The building will be about 7,000 square feet, with two-thirds of the space dedicated to the brewery and the rest used for front-of-the-house operations, the tap room and dining. Plans include a dock that would be accessible by boat.
The partners want to start construction by April and open by the end of 2015.
Cushman & Wakefield new SunTrust leasing agent
SunTrust Tower, one of Jacksonville’s Downtown Northbank high-rise office buildings, is getting a new exclusive leasing agent and a major new tenant.
Cushman & Wakefield will serve as the leasing agent for Parador Partners LLC, which owns about 280,000 square feet of the 383,239-square-foot SunTrust Tower at 76 S. Laura St.
Also, PwC, the name for the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm, is moving from the nearby Bank of America Tower onto the 21st floor. The move will leverage technology and space to accommodate PwC’s growing practice, a company representative said.
Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse opening
The Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse steakhouse could open by March in the former Kan-Ki Steakhouse & Sushi Bar along Southside Boulevard in the Tinseltown area.
Three partners are working on renovating the structure, which will feature tableside service of 15 cuts of lamb, pork, beef and poultry.
The restaurant will be a full-service churrascaria, which serves grilled meats served by waiters who move around the room with the skewers, slicing meat onto the customers’ plates.
Newk’s Eatery hoping to add three restaurants
Newk’s Eatery, which already has two Jacksonville locations, wants to expand in Duval and Clay counties to operate five restaurants.
The fast-casual bakery café already operates a store in River City Marketplace and another near The Avenues mall.
Tenant representative Carrie Smith of Franklin Street real estate said the Jackson, Miss.-based Newk’s is considering the Jacksonville Beach and St. Johns Town Center/Tinseltown markets for one store this year, and wants to open a total of three area stores over the next three to five years in Duval and Clay counties.