BJ’s Wholesale Club could be opening at the Beachwalk development in Northern St. Johns County.
The Prosser Inc. civil engineering firm asked JEA, Jacksonville’s power utility, about the availability of electric, water, sewer and reuse services to serve the BJ’s Wholesale Club at Beachwalk.
The 3,000-acre master-planned Beachwalk community is in development north of County Road 210 between Interstate 95 and U.S. 1. JEA serves that area.
It would be the first membership wholesale club in St. Johns County.
St. Johns County Director of Economic Development Melissa Glasgow said she heard about a prospective wholesale club at Beachwalk but has not seen a definitive plan and could not confirm BJ’s Wholesale Club’s interest.
She looks forward to the possibility.
“We don’t have one,” she said about a wholesale club in Northern St. Johns County, which has attracted residential development.
“We certainly welcome them to the county. It diversifies our retail options,” she said.
BJ’s Corporate Communications Director Kristy Houston said Thursday the company did not have information about a Beachwalk store.
It will open three clubs in Michigan this fall and early next year and one in Pensacola.
“At this time, we have no additional information on future locations but are actively reviewing opportunities to bring the value of a BJ’s membership to new communities,” Houston said by email.
Colliers International Northeast Florida is handling retail leasing for Beachwalk. “We are not able to comment at this time,” said Colliers Director Nancy Sumner on Thursday when asked about BJ’s Wholesale Club.
Retail stores are expected to start opening at Beachwalk by year-end 2020.
Colliers marketing materials for Beachwalk show that more than 53,000 single-family homes are entitled for development in Northern St. Johns County and almost 19,000 have been built.
Beachwalk is known for the 14-acre Crystal Lagoon built at the center of the project, creating opportunities for waterfront residences, restaurants, shops and recreation.
Beachwalk, part of the Twin Creeks planned unit development, is designed to include 3,200 residences, 450,000 square feet of retail and commercial uses, 700,000 square feet of office space and 1.95 million square feet of industrial and office campus space.
BJ’s Wholesale Clubs range from 70,000 to 130,000 square feet, averaging about 111,000 square feet.
As of March, BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc., based in Westborough, Massachusetts, operated 216 membership warehouse clubs and 138 BJ’s Gas locations in 16 states in the Eastern U.S.
It operates three in Northeast Florida, with one in Orange Park and two in Jacksonville at southeast Kernan and Atlantic boulevards and at northwest Philips Highway and Baymeadows Road.
BJ’s Wholesale Club also operates a regional distribution center in West Jacksonville.
