Stein Mart CEO D. Hunt Hawkins said after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting Tuesday the store expects to be flanked by Ulta Beauty and a pet-supplies retailer.
“It will be a pretty significant renovation,” he said.
Stein Mart Investor Relations Director Linda Tasseff said Tuesday the fashion retailer renewed its lease at the West Jacksonville shopping center and is staying in its current 46,000-square-foot space.
Stein Mart extended its current lease that ends Oct. 31, 2018, through Jan. 31, 2029. There are four five-year options through Jan. 31, 2049.
Stein Mart’s lease appears to be a condition of the landlord’s recent loan.
A mortgage agreement signed and recorded in May shows that Roosevelt Square owner and developer Dewberry Capital Corp. intended to retain existing anchors Stein Mart and Publix Super Markets Inc. and sign new tenant PetSmart.
Atlanta-based Dewberry has not returned phone calls about its plans for the center, which St. Johns River Water Management District filings show will be renovated.
Protective Life Insurance Co. issued a $68.5 million mortgage to property owner Roosevelt Square Limited Liability Limited Partnership, which is led by John Dewberry, president and CEO of Dewberry Capital. The loan matures in five years.
Hawkins said Dewberry has been considering different options for the redevelopment.
For example, early this month, district City Council member Jim Love shared a September master plan that showed 35,000- and 18,000-square-foot stores near Publix. Those appeared to fit Stein Mart’s more typical size of 32,000 square feet and the size of PetSmart.
Stein Mart’s decision to renew its lease indicates that plan may have changed.
Stein Mart’s façade and roof will be upgraded and the retailer will completely renovate the interior of its store. Hawkins did not have a time frame, but said the inside work would start after the holidays.
Interior renovations will include updated fixtures, a new layout, a reduced footprint for home goods while adding more space for ready-to-wear, and other improvements.
Dewberry bought the former enclosed Roosevelt Mall almost 20 years ago and “de-malled” it into an open-air retail center.
Stein Mart has been a tenant at the property since 1985. The company said it leased space formerly used by the Ivey’s department store.
It moved to its current building — a former Publix before the supermarket moved to a larger store in the center — about 1998. Its address is 4399 Roosevelt Blvd.
Roosevelt Square operates on 29 acres along Roosevelt Boulevard, south of San Juan Avenue. Love said previously that Dewberry was “looking at some pretty heavy-duty dollars to refresh it.”
Site plans have circulated for the redevelopment but show varied designs.
Hawkins understands that the former Belk store, at 63,000 square feet, will be demolished. Belk closed in January.
Some plans have shown stores being built in its place.
Jacksonville is one of Stein Mart’s four test markets.
Along with other improvements, five area stores will take part in a new branding and marketing effort.
Genpact announces Jacksonville center
Genpact announced Tuesday that it will open a new center in Jacksonville and hire up to 200 people in its first year of operation.
The global professional services firm, which says it is focused on delivering digital transformation for clients, made the announcement at the Select USA Investment Summit in Oxon Hill, Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C.
“We chose to open a center in Jacksonville because it’s a budding financial services hub and boasts both an extremely favorable business climate and an impressive digital talent pool,” said NV “Tiger” Tyagarajan, Genpact president and CEO, in a news release.
Genpact said it signed a lease for 37,000 square feet of office space at Capital Plaza in South Jacksonville and will open July 24 with its first training class.
The city issued a permit June 2 for Auld & White Constructors LLC to renovate 37,356 square feet of space at a job cost of $893,920 on the full fourth floor in Capital Plaza at 10401 Deerwood Park Blvd.
The company initially will begin providing processing, underwriting and closing services for residential mortgage loans for a leading financial services institution, it said.
Genpact also plans to provide more services in Jacksonville.
Jobs are posted at https://careers.genpact.com/ and on sites including Monster, Indeed and CareerBuilder