From the Daily Record
A partnership comprising the founders of Firehouse Subs and North Jacksonville land owner Steve Leggett bought 15 acres at Max Leggett Parkway and North Main Street for development of a shopping center.
Old No. 1 Partners LLC, consisting of Leggett and brothers Robin and Chris Sorensen, paid $3.2 million for the 15-acre site.
The Sorensens founded Firehouse Subs, now with more than 900 locations, in 1994.
Leggett’s father, Max, and the Sorensens’ father, Rob, joined the fire department together in 1960. The late Max Leggett was a City Council member.
Leggett said the property is entitled for up to 75,000 square feet of retail space, which he said they envision for a shopping center.
He also anticipates four outparcels of an acre or more each that could be sold.
Leggett said the site is “right in the middle of everything” at northeast Main Street and Max Leggett Parkway.
The property is near the Parkway Shops and River City Marketplace, where Firehouse Subs has a shop with a mural that includes Max Leggett.
Leggett said there was no timetable for development or a name yet for the retail center.
He also is preparing for development of 65 acres he owns along Max Leggett Parkway at Owens Road, near the UF Health North medical campus and Parkway Shops.
A developer plans an apartment community on part of the site, while Leggett intends to develop the rest of it for medical and related uses. Four outparcels are available there, as well.
He also owns the property under contract for Project Rex at Pecan Park and Duval roads. Rex is believed to be an Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center.
Cypress Point Business
Park sells for $22.7M
HGL Properties sold Cypress Point Business Park to a new entity led by a Tulsa, Okla., property company.
Cypress Point is an eight-building property on 40 acres in Southside, whose anchor tenants include Fanatics Inc., US Assure and City Refrigeration.
HGL Properties L.P. Ltd. sold the park for $22.73 million to 2016 Cypress Point FL L.L.L.P., an Oklahoma partnership led by GBR Properties Inc., according to the deed recorded with the Duval County Clerk of Court.
HGL Vice President Will Stout said HGL is a partner with GBR in the deal.
“We brought in a new partner,” he said. “It’s a restructuring.”
Stout said he will continue to manage the park, developed by HGL in 1999, and Graham & Co. will continue as the leasing agent.
Cypress Point comprises 344,000 square feet, which is 72.8 percent occupied, he said.
GBR is a private equity company focused on real estate investment, development and syndication. It was formed in 1987.
Its gbrproperties.com website says the company owns 1.7 million square feet of real estate. It has 25 operating partnerships, capitalized with $48.1 million of limited partner capital in addition to its own capital.
Groundbreaking next month for HarborChase
Vestcor Communities expects to break ground in June on the $26 million HarborChase of Mandarin, designed as a 114-unit independent, assisted living and memory care community.
Holly Hepler, marketing manager of The Vestcor Companies, said Jacksonville-based Vestcor will partner with Harbor Retirement Associates for the development.
Vero Beach-based Harbor Retirement Associates is a regional senior living development and management company that focuses primarily on assisted living and memory care communities, including HarborChase of Jacksonville along San Pablo Road.
HarborChase of Mandarin is planned on 4.1 acres at 12276 San Jose Blvd.
It will comprise 116 beds among 94 independent and assisted-living apartments and 20 memory-care units. Rents will be market rate, but have not been finalized.
Hepler said the three-story, 126,000-square-foot project, to be built by Summit Contracting Group, should be completed in August 2017.
She said the one- and two-bedroom apartments will include utilities, Internet service, housekeeping, laundry service and routine maintenance.
Services also include full-service dining by an executive chef and 24-hour access to a licensed nurse and health monitoring by a professional staff.
HarborChase of Mandarin is designed at San Jose Boulevard and Mandarin Meadows Drive.
Southeastern Grocers in new office site
Almost 800 headquarters employees joined the Baymeadows area workforce last month as Southeastern Grocers relocated most of its Jacksonville Store Support Center from the Westside.
Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers LLC, whose banners are Bi-Lo, Winn-Dixie and Harveys, moved into the Prominence office park at Baymeadows Road and Interstate 95.
The move creates more conference space, two private mother’s rooms, a state-of-the-art test kitchen, nature paths and more parking.
The workspace is designed as an open environment with no offices but with conference, meeting and other private rooms available as needed.
The company will introduce a test kitchen at the Prominence center, where a chef will create product formulations and food-science technicians will test foods for quality, taste and safety.
The kitchen will be a showcase with full-view windows that allow associates to watch the teams.
Outside the center, there are running and walking trails throughout the park, which is a 54-acre property that borders a conservation and mitigation area.
Parking is more abundant, with 926 spaces for employees, 200 more than at the Westside center.
While 790 associates moved, more than 330 remain at 5050 Edgewood Court, which has become the Southeastern Grocers Technology Center.
Southeastern Grocers has not commented about the cost of renovations. The approved building permit showed a $6.2 million job cost for renovations.
O’Steen’s Auto Body moving to Atlantic
O’Steen’s Auto Body is moving to a more visible location along Atlantic Boulevard, which has become a major Jacksonville auto dealership corridor.
The body shop repairs all makes and models, but specializes in Jaguar, Land Rover, Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.
Those dealerships, and several others, operate along Atlantic Boulevard from the Regency area through Kernan Boulevard.
A sign at the 10055 Atlantic Blvd. location said O’Steen’s Auto Body business is coming soon to the site of a former Japanese steakhouse that operated in Arlington since about 1979
O’Steen’s Auto Body, led by Mark O’Steen, operates nearby at 241 Tresca Road. That site is about a third of a mile north of the new location.
Mark O’Steen is the manager of MODO Properties LLC, which as the trustee for the Atlantic Land Trust, bought the restaurant property Jan. 12.
MODO paid $825,000 for the site from Tran and Duong Corp. Records show Tony Hung Duong issued a five-year $660,000 mortgage to MODO.
Tran and Duong Corp. bought the property for $710,000 in 2000 from Yano Corp., led by Takatoshi Yano.
David Skinner buys Brownstone Building
A prominent San Jose Boulevard office building was sold last month to David Skinner, a member of the Skinner family of Jacksonville property owners.
David Godfrey Skinner, as trustee of the David Godfrey Skinner Revocable Trust, paid $1.75 million for the three-story structure built in 2008 at 6022 San Jose Blvd.
Formerly called the Brownstone Building, the previous landlord leased space to The Brownstone Group, the parent company of Latitude 360.
The company closed its entertainment and dining venues in Jacksonville and Indianapolis in January, leaving it with just one venue in operation in Pittsburgh. The building has been vacant since then.
Skinner said his family’s business office, Goldsmith Asset Management LLC, will occupy some space but will lease out the majority of the building. “It’s just investment property,” he said.
Skinner’s brother, Chip Skinner, and Skinner Bros. Realty will handle leasing for the building. Chip Skinner is president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association.
Chip Skinner said Goldsmith will use about 2,500 square feet, leaving the rest of the 10,100-square-foot structure for tenants.
He anticipates the building will attract professional services such as attorneys, CPAs and others.
David Skinner bought the building from KJE Properties LLC, which took title to the property in 2010.