Jacksonville developer Jeff Conn intends to redevelop property at the closed Kmart site at northwest Beach and University boulevards in 2018.
“I will be developing it. There’s no question about that,” Conn said Thursday at the site, which he calls Boulevard Crossing.
Conn, a principal and co-founder of NAI Hallmark Partners, is president of Boulevard Crossing LLC, which bought about 8 acres at the corner in October 2014.
Boulevard Crossing doesn’t own the buildings there, including the former Kmart. Those structures are separately owned, Conn said.
Conn said his group owns the bulk of the large parking lot, used Thursday afternoon by some drivers cutting through to bypass the busy intersection. Conn will be putting up fencing to curb that traffic.
While Conn doesn’t own the Kmart property, he said “it’s certainly a possibility we could develop that.” Asked if he would buy the buildings for redevelopment, he said that would be “determined at a later date.”
A preliminary site plan for what is called Boulevard Crossing is included with Mobility Fee Calculation Certificates sought by property owner Boulevard Crossing LLC.
That company is led by Conn and Vice President Alex Coley, also a co-founder and principal of Jacksonville-based real estate company NAI Hallmark Partners.
A preliminary site plan by engineering firm England, Thims & Miller Inc. shows four parcels, including a 10,100-square-foot retail building on the western side of the 8.84-acre property and a 6,700-square-foot multitenant structure closer to the eastern side.
Those buildings are the subject of the mobility fee certificates signed this week. The city calculated a mobility fee of almost $35,500 to support the transportation impacts of the larger building and $56,573 for the smaller.
The smaller structure comprises two tenants – a 4,900-square-foot high-turnover, sit-down restaurant and a 1,800-square-foot retail store, the mobility application shows.
No tenants are listed.
The preliminary site plan shows the property would comprise four parcels, starting west of the existing Piccadilly Cafeteria, which is not part of the project. That plan indicates the Kmart building would be removed.
The 10,100-square-foot building is on Parcel D and the smaller structure is on Parcel B. The plan doesn’t show any structures on Parcels A and C.
Conn said there is plenty of retail interest in the site. “You don’t find that much acreage at infill locations,” he said.
Boulevard Crossing LLC paid almost $1.9 million for the property, at 5751 Beach Blvd., in October 2014.
The property is about 4 miles east of Downtown in an area developed with retail stores and dominated on the southeast corner by Memorial Hospital and Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital.
Kmart closed its 108,341-square-foot store in 2012. There also is 36,563 square feet of retail space. The structures were built in 1969.
Property records show the entire site to be 13.5 acres.
The city issued a permit Thursday for Garrard Construction Group Inc. to build-out space at The Strand at Town Center for Grub Burger Bar, whose marketing vice president said previously would open early in the first quarter.
The site is at 4906 Town Center Parkway in an end unit of one of the larger retail strips under construction along Town Center Parkway. The build-out cost is $637,515 for the 3,821-square-foot space along with outdoor seating.
The restaurant, expected to hire about 50 people, will be company owned. The Bryan, Texas-based company’s first Florida store is in Tallahassee.
Grub Burger Bar’s menu includes burgers, sides, salads and bowls, sandwiches and tenders, snacks, drinks and full bar.
The city also issued a permit for Load King Manufacturing of Jacksonville to renovate space at 8358 Point Meadows Drive for Maple Street Biscuit Co. at a project cost of $257,000.
The almost 2,800-square-foot restaurant is in the Point Meadows shopping center at Baymeadows Road and Interstate 295. It will employ 20-25 people.
Maple Street restaurants, with a menu focused on biscuit sandwiches, are open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday-Saturday. There also are entrees, salads and sides.