From the Daily Record
About 45 acres west of St. Johns Town Center is under contract for development into retail stores, multifamily, office space and a hotel.
According to the website of the buyer’s agent, Cantrell & Morgan Inc., the new mixed use development at St. Johns Town Center will be developed by Preferred Growth Properties.
Preferred Growth Properties is one of the three business units of Books-A-Million, along with traditional book retailing and online retailing.
The real estate business owns, develops and leases commercial retail estate. The company already owns the Mandarin South Shopping Center in Jacksonville, which it intends to redevelop.
Baptist complexes set for North Jacksonville and Town Center
Baptist Health will develop a 40-acre medical office campus in North Jacksonville at northeast Dunn Avenue and Interstate 295.
The first phase, expected to be completed by the end of 2016, will include a free-standing emergency center, medical office building, imaging and lab services, a Baptist Primary Care office and specialists’ office space. The second phase may include an ambulatory surgery center.
The complex is designed to meet the growing needs of families in North Jacksonville, said Michael Mayo, hospital president of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville.
Baptist is also in the final stages of buying 1.8 acres to build a free-standing emergency center next to the Gate store along Town Center Parkway near St. Johns Town Center.
Old Ford plant sells for $4.4M
The former Ford Motor Co. factory under the Mathews Bridge has sold to the Miami investor who bought EverBank Center in September.
Amkin Hill Street LLC paid $4.4 million to buy more than 30 acres in the Talleyrand area, including the Ford plant, from Hill Street LLC.
Sonny Redmond, a managing member of Hill Street, said it would be business as usual for the industrial tenants who lease space in the eight properties that were sold. Redmond said the five ownership partners were ready to sell after 14 years.
Amkin’s manager is Ramon Llorens of Miami. Redmond said the family is based in Madrid, Spain, and invests around the world. Llorens is the registered agent for at least a dozen Florida entities.
The Ford property opened in 1924 and for four decades, Ford built automobiles at the riverfront factory.
Later, the structure was used as a distribution center for the automaker, but it has been empty for years.
In addition to the Ford site, the other properties sold are 1841 Wambolt St., 1901 Hill St., 639 and 709 Talleyrand Ave., 1816 Clarkson St., and a parking lot and vacant property along Talleyrand Avenue and on Swift Street.
Llorens also bought 47 acres at Dames Point for $4.53 million from Lafarge North America Inc.
The location is near the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility under development at 9600 New Berlin Road and the WesPac Midstream liquefied natural gas manufacturing plant planned at 9225 Dames Point Road.
The LNG plant is next to the Jacksonville Port Authority’s Dames Point Marine Terminal.
St. Johns closer to landing Bass Pro Shops
The St. Johns County Commission in February approved the Durbin Urban Services Area, a 1,624-acre site east and west of I-95 and just south of Race Track Road, which will be anchored by Bass Pro Shops.
The agreement paves the way for developers to rezone, get construction plans approved and build, a county official said.
Durbin is designed to be developed in four five-year phases that eventually will total 2.4 million square feet of shopping-center retail space, almost 2.8 million square feet of office space, 350 hotel rooms and 999 multifamily units.
The county has a dense population in the northwest and northeast, including the Nocatee communities, and officials believe the center will be a draw for the region.
Jacksonville-based Gate Petroleum Co. owns the property and is expected to sell some of the parcels to other companies. The planned Florida 9B highway will have an interchange at the site.
Happy Grilled Cheese food truck to open 5 Points restaurant
The Happy Grilled Cheese, a popular food truck with more than 50 rotating menu items like the “Mayport Melt” and the “French Toast Melt,” intends to open a restaurant in Five Points in April.
Plans show the company is renovating space at 1029 Park St. to accommodate 37 indoor seats and patio dining for 39. The build-out will cost $106,000.
The food truck will continue to run six days a week after the restaurant opens.
Duval Ford rebuilding its dealership on Cassat Avenue
Duval Ford plans to rebuild its Cassat Avenue dealership on-site and complete the project by 2016, in time for its 100th anniversary.
It will be built behind the existing showroom, enabling business to continue during construction.
Most of the structures are 46 years old and eight of the nine existing buildings will be demolished.
The new dealership will offer 59 service bays and 40,000 square feet of shop space.
The showroom, parts and service will take another 30,000 square feet.
Duval Ford is close to Ernie Palmer Toyota, which is redeveloping its dealership at 1290 and 1310 Cassat Ave. Duval Honda, built in 2003, is also nearby at 1325 Cassat Ave.
Downtown snags 200 jobs with expansion of C2C Solutions
C2C Solutions will add almost 200 employees, doubling its Downtown job base to more than 400, as it expands within EverBank Center. Hiring should be completed in March.
The additional jobs are coming as the tower also moves in more than 1,000 Citizens Property Insurance Corp. employees by year-end.
C2C Solutions Inc. is a Medicare appeals contractor and a subsidiary of Austin, Texas-based TMF Health Quality Institute.
The company leases about 30,000 square feet of space on the sixth floor of the Downtown EverBank Center tower and is expanding into almost 13,000 square feet on the 11th floor.
The move represents an almost $900,000 construction investment.