A year after buying the property, supermarket operator Rob Rowe is starting 2020 by renovating the former Winn-Dixie store in Deerwood into a Rowe’s IGA Supermarket.
Rowe applied to the city for a permit to remodel the store’s interior at a cost of $1.6 million.
The 58,000-square-foot store at 9866 Baymeadows Road was built in 1986 and closed in 2018 as part of the Southeastern Grocers Inc. bankruptcy restructuring. Winn-Dixie is a Southeastern Grocers banner.
Rowe said Dec. 26 that he did not have a specific timeline for the project.
“We are waiting on the permit and the schedule will follow,” he said.
Rowe said he will invest $4.5 million in “a total retrofit of the space.”
“We are doing a full remodel replacing everything inside the location, new front, new loading dock, new parking lot” and landscaping, he said.
Plans show deli, meat, seafood, bakery, produce and wine departments as well as general groceries. A seating area with tables is shown near the front door.
Like other Rowe’s stores, it will be full-service but without a pharmacy.
Dzyneconcepts LLC of Jacksonville is the architect. Williams & Rowe Co. Inc. is the contractor. Rob Rowe is not related to Williams & Rowe.
Through Rarre LLC, Rowe bought the closed store in February for $3.7 million. At the time, he said he was assessing what to do with it.
Rowe said in October he decided to open the Baymeadows store and expected to do so in the first quarter of 2020.
Rowe said he expects to hire at least 90 people.
Rowe’s IGA Supermarkets, operates five stores in west, northwest, north and south Jacksonville and in Orange Park. The IGA brand serves independent grocery chains.
The stores are at 8595 Beach Blvd., 5435 Blanding Blvd., 6765 Dunn Ave., 8299 W. Beaver St. and at 1670 Wells Road in Orange Park.
Rowe also intends to open a Rowe’s IGA Supermarket in the former Harveys Supermarket at 1020 Edgewood Ave. N. in Commonwealth Shopping Center in Northwest Jacksonville.
Harveys also is a Southeastern Grocers banner.
Southeastern Grocers closed the Deerwood Winn-Dixie and Commonwealth Harveys, along with more, in spring 2018 as it restructured under bankruptcy laws.
City Council enacted Ordinance 2019-767-E on Nov. 26 appropriating $750,000 to open Rowe’s at the Commonwealth site.
The Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund supermarket incentive program will provide the money to Commonwealth Commerce Center landlord Saglo Development Corp. for the 49,000-square-foot project.
The program is designed to serve customers in what are considered urban food deserts, where there isn’t a grocery store within a mile.
Miami-based Saglo and Rowe plan a $3.5 million renovation of the Harveys store, parking lot, signage and landscaping.
Rowe said there isn’t a full-service grocery store within 2 to 3 miles of the location.
Rowe said he is in the early stages of the Edgewood project and will know more after the holidays. He said he is working on the plans and will seek permits “to set things in motion.”