From the Daily Record
Wawa Inc. has one site under contract and several more in review for its entrance into Northeast Florida with five or six stores — and it expects 20-25 over time.
“We are all in for our efforts in Jacksonville,” Wawa Regional Real Estate Manager Brian Duke said last month.
The popular Pennsylvania-based convenience store and gas station chain launched its Florida presence in July 2012 in Central Florida.
It has opened 87 locations in the state at a pace of one every two weeks, Duke said.
A spokeswoman said in November the company’s target is 180 stores in Florida by 2019.
Duke said the opening date for the first Northeast Florida stores hasn’t been determined. Construction takes up to 10 months after land is secured and permits are issued.
That indicates Wawa’s first Northeast Florida stores could open in 2017, although Duke would not venture an estimated month.
He said the first sites have been identified in Duval and Clay counties and Wawa also is working on some locations in St. Johns County. The site under contract is in Duval.
“We think Jacksonville will end up with 20-25 stores over time,” Duke said, but did not have a timeframe for that.
Duke declined to identify sites, but described Wawa’s preferred locations as 2-acre corner sites at what it considers the best intersections with traffic lights and high traffic counts.
The privately held company operates a 24-hour business “so we rely on heavy traffic,” he said.
The stores average up to 6,000 square feet and generally offer 16 fueling positions among eight pumps.
Wawa has entered the Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers markets and intends to expand along the East Coast this year, including in Volusia, Brevard and Martin counties.
It offers made-to-order hoagies, soups, salads, smoothies, milkshakes and espresso-based coffees made by barista-trained employees, he said.
Wawa also sells its own branded products.
The privately held chain operates more than 700 convenience stores, with over 450 offering fuel, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.
Dreamette opening
in Neptune Beach
Dreamette, the 68-year Murray Hill ice-cream destination, will branch out to the Beaches this spring.
Kyle Jones, a property manager, has the trade name license agreement to open a Dreamette in Neptune Beach at 309 Atlantic Blvd. in a former Yobe Frozen Yogurt location.
It will serve soft-serve cones and cups, dipped cones, shakes, sundaes, banana splits, floats, slushes and freezes.
The location should open between March 1 and April 1. It will offer walk-up and walk-in service as well as indoor and deck seating.
Town Center Promenade to
include grocery store and hotel
Core Property Capital LLC paid $23.5 million to members of the Skinner family for the Town Center Exchange, a 69-acre parcel on Town Center Parkway opposite the St. Johns Town Center.
Online marketing materials show the mixed-use project is now called Town Center Promenade. The 30-acre mixed-use development would include about 100,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, 350 multifamily units and a 150-room hotel.
An earlier draft site plan of the project shows an almost 18,000-square-foot grocery store; a 42,250-square-foot fitness center; three standalone restaurants from 3,125 to 7,000 square feet; a 4,500-square-foot branch bank; an almost 8,000-square-foot building with a restaurant and retail space; and an almost 6,000-square-foot structure with a coffee shop and retail space.
Core Property is a real estate investor, asset manager and developer. This will be Core Property’s first project in Jacksonville. Pending approvals, most of the project should open in early 2017.
Fort buys land
for 400 apartments
A Fort Family Investments company bought almost 22 acres in Flagler Center to develop Palm Bay Club, the Fort group’s eighth area apartment community.
The project would comprise a little more than 400 units and would likely be built in two phases. It will be a luxury project, but not priced as high of some of Fort’s other communities.
A construction timeline or final investment estimate was not available.
Palm Bay Rental Community Two LLC bought the land, between Interstate 95 and Gran Bay Parkway West, from FDG Flagler Land LLC. The Palm Bay Club LLC paid almost $7.1 million for the property.
The company is led by Donald Fort, the president of Fort Family Investments Inc.
Eagle View investing $9M in Tradeport move
Eagle View Windows, which makes vinyl windows and doors, is more than quadrupling in size in a move from Westside to North Jacksonville.
The company’s primary business target is builders, specifically members of the Northeast Florida Builders Association.
Eagle View is moving from about 17,000 square feet at 5465 Verna Blvd. into about 82,000 square feet at Jacksonville International Tradeport.
The city received a permit application for almost $200,000 in tenant improvements for the 8,500 square feet of office space at the Tradeport building.
Eagle View makes an average of 80 windows a day, a number that will grow to a minimum of 200 a day after the move to larger space. The staff of 53, including about 10 administrative jobs, should expand by 20-25 people in the next few months.
Rimrock Devlin sells
JU dorm for $17.5M
New York investor W.P. Carey Inc. bought the new Jacksonville University dorm north of the Arlington campus in January for $17.5 million.
Rimrock Devlin Dorms LLC partners Micah Linton and Wally Devlin said their sale of the new residence hall to the New York global investor frees up capital and allows them to do more deals.
W.P. Carey vice president, said in a news release the company is attracted to student housing assets that address a supply-demand imbalance and offer long-term income generating investments.
JU is a highly regarded academic institution with increasing enrollment. The university has been named by U.S. News & World Report for more than 10 years as one of “America’s Best Colleges” in the South.
Also, the state-of-the-art residential hall is the first new freshman dormitory at JU since 1968. It includes high-tech amenities and modern features and is fully occupied. First-year students moved in last fall.
The hall was part of the first stage of a multiphase development for the riverfront property adjacent to JU.