Franklin Street commercial real estate will relocate from the Belfort area near suburban Southpoint to San Marco by mid-May.
Now at 7751 Belfort Parkway, Franklin Street will lease the Corner Lot Development Group building at 1611 Atlantic Blvd.
“We feel strongly about the growth in the urban core and wanted to be part of that synergy,” said Franklin Street Managing Director Carrie Smith on April 27.
Jacksonville-based Corner Lot is moving to a Riverside building it bought in November. It will relocate Corner Lot Development Group, Corner Lot Living and Breeze Homes.
Corner Lot CEO Andy Allen said April 27 the company initially intended to keep some of the functions in the San Marco building but Franklin Street needed all the space.
He said Franklin Street would move May 15.
CLDG HQ Holdings LLC, led by Allen and Corner Lot COO George Leone, paid $335,000 for the San Marco building in July 2018. Corner Lot moved there in 2019 from leased space along Hendricks Avenue.
The 3,034-square-foot structure was built in 1985.
“We’ve been itching to get back into the urban core a couple of years now,” Smith said. San Marco is on the south side of the St. Johns River and near the city’s Downtown Investment Authority boundaries.
Franklin Street leased space in the Eight Forty One building on the Southbank until it moved to Belfort Road about seven years ago, she said.
She said Franklin Street had been seeking space but couldn’t find the appropriate size.
When Allen, a client, said he was buying property in Riverside, Franklin Street decided the San Marco building would be an option.
“It evolved into us doing a deal with him,” Smith said. “It couldn’t have worked out any better.”
The San Marco space is about 500 square feet larger than the 2,500 square feet Franklin Street leases in Belfort. Smith said the group intends to add employees.
“There is no question the market is on fire right now,” she said. “We are continuing to see our revenue increase and we plan to bring on more folks.”
Franklin Street was founded in 2006 in Tampa.
It has offices in Tampa, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
It provides investment sales, tenant and landlord representation, capital, insurance, management and valuation.
Allen said Franklin Street has been the broker for Corner Lot on some retail properties, including Parkway Place at Durbin in northern St. Johns County.