Ash Properties submitted civil engineering plans with the city to convert the closed Kmart and garden center at 9600 San Jose Blvd. into a multitenant retail building.
Sun-Ray Cinema remains a prospective tenant for a multiscreen theater.
Co-owner Shana David-Massett said May 5 the cinema is reviewing a proposed lease.
“We are so grateful that over a year of negotiations is continuing fruitfully,” she said.
She said a timeline is not clear.
Co-owner Tim Massett said “this pandemic has interrupted things a bit.”
“I’m sure the city’s process will help clarify that,” said Shana David-Massett.
Sun-Ray Cinema, an independent two-screen theater in Five Points, announced Sept. 28 on its Facebook page it would expand with a five-screen theater in the Mandarin building.
Broker Marjorie Seaman, CEO and founder of Seaman Realty and Management Co., represents Sun-Ray Cinema.
"This is a transformational deal for Mandarin," Seaman said.
"It's the 'coolifacation' of the community and we are all eager for this exciting development," she said.
"I am so thrilled to be representing Sun-Ray Cinema in this transaction."
Jacksonville-based civil engineer Baker Design Build filed the commercial development plans with the city May 1.
Baker explained in a report filed with the plans that the proposed project includes the redevelopment of an existing retail property that previously contained a Kmart store.
The 11.66-acre site does not include the Zaxby’s restaurant, which is separately owned.
The Kmart project includes an addition of a 7,380-square-foot stand-alone structure near the front of the site along San Jose Boulevard and a 23,665-square-foot addition to the main retail building.
Property records show the Kmart structure at 110,437, which includes the garden center.
Plans show the existing building at 88,130 square feet and a total completed project of 119,175 square feet.
The larger building shows five units upon redevelopment from 11,450 to 31,186 square feet.
The city issued a mobility fee calculation certificate Jan. 28 for the project. The city calculated no fee for what was submitted as a 110,686-square-foot project.
Jacksonville-based Ash Properties said in October that it intends to renovate the building for several large and possibly a few smaller tenants.
Kmart opened there 41 years ago and closed in 2016. It continued to lease the property until parent company Sears Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2018.
Through Atlantic Mini-Storage of America Inc., Ash Properties paid almost $4.39 million for the property Dec. 1, 2015.