DUVAL COUNTY
About 17 months after the ceremonial groundbreaking for Concourse B at Jacksonville International Airport, the $344 million project has a completed framework.
Construction on the six-gate, three-level structure began in July 2024. The 186,733-square-foot project is at 2400 Yankee Clipper Drive in North Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville Aviation Authority and construction manager Balfour Beatty Construction LLC of Orlando celebrated the milestone with a topping-out ceremony Oct. 24.
It is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, along with a new 2,000-space parking garage.
Dining in the concourse will include Cantina Louie Mexican Street Food, Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, V Pizza and Willie Jewell’s Old School Bar-B-Q.
“In all of the places I go and after all of the speeches I give, the No. 1 ask is ‘When are we getting a Chick-fil-A?’ They aren’t asking about flights to Mexico or Des Moines,” Jacksonville Aviation Authority CEO Mark VanLoh said at the Nov. 19 JAA board meeting. “So it’s coming.”
Developer Cross Regions Group continues to move forward on The Fountains at Westside, a mixed-use development planned in West Jacksonville.
The city is reviewing civil plans submitted Dec. 2.
On Oct. 31, the St. Johns River Water Management District issued an environmental resource permit for the project’s mass grading plans at the site at southeast Lane Avenue and Ramona Boulevard off Interstate 10 at the former Westside Plaza.
Cross Regions is the developer of the 100-acre The Fountains at Saint Johns mixed-use development at County Road 210 West and I-95.
President and CEO David Ergisi said the Westside project will be similar, bringing retail, restaurants, health care and hospitality to the area.
It will be developed over multiple phases starting with the renovation of an existing 36,000-square-foot building at the site where Office Depot operates.
Kimley-Horn Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
At build-out, Ergisi said the project will include up to about 100,000 square feet of retail space. Outparcels “will bring in key niche users that are needed in the marketplace,” including restaurants.
Cross Regions, through Fountains at Westside LLC, purchased the site in four parcels Dec. 23 for about $9.8 million.
Otto Aerospace, the company that plans to build its jet factory in Jacksonville, announced Sept. 29 that the aviation company Flexjet will be the launch customer for its Phantom 3500 business aircraft.
In a Sept. 29 news release, Otto, which changed its name from Otto Aviation in early September, announced that Flexjet had placed an order for 300 of the corporate jets it plans to manufacture at Cecil Airport. The carbon-fiber Phantom 3500 is designed with laminar-flow aerodynamics to reduce fuel consumption by more than 60% over competing aircraft.
Cleveland-based Flexjet offers leasing and fractional jet ownership, a system where an individual or company buys a share of a private aircraft. Its fleet includes Embraer, Bombardier and Gulfstream aircraft.
In June 2025, Otto announced it would establish a manufacturing and production facility to build its jet at Cecil Airport. The announcement came after the Jacksonville City Council approved a $20 million incentive package for the aircraft company in the form of a 20-year, 75% Recapture Enhanced Value Grant for Otto. A REV Grant is a refund on added tax revenue generated by a new development.
Otto, based in Texas, plans to relocate its headquarters to Jacksonville. In total, the move is expected to create a workforce of about 1,200 locally.
The first test flight of the Phantom 3500 is planned in 2027, with certification and deliveries targeted for 2030.
Otto plans to start at Cecil’s Hangar 825 before building a 180,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for the Phantom 3500.
The company is making a $430 million capital investment in Jacksonville, aided by a $34.9 million Jacksonville Aviation Authority incentive package, including abatements, rent credits and the city-approved REV Grant.
The authority is preparing for Otto’s arrival with a request for qualifications issued Sept. 18 seeking a consultant to oversee the $22.5 million extension of Taxiway E at Cecil Airport.
Blackwater Development is taking the next step in the transformation of the 58-year-old Regency Square Mall to launch the first phase of redevelopment of the Arlington property as The Nexus at Regency.
Lake City-based Blackwater said in a release it was submitting an application for civil engineering permits with the initial phase focusing on the front 11 acres along Atlantic Boulevard and Monument Road.
Blackwater said the area is designed “to set the tone for the broader 77-acre project,” which is at 9501 Arlington Expressway.
“These infrastructure improvements represent the foundation of The Nexus at Regency. With roads, utilities, and landscaping in place, we can begin unlocking the front 11 acres and creating opportunities for new tenants to join this transformational project,” said Rurmell McGee, founder of Blackwater Development, in the release.
Blackwater said a roundabout at the entrance, a centerpiece of the infrastructure plan, is designed to enhance traffic efficiency and create “a welcoming gateway into the property.”
It said the landscaping plan “will add greenery and life to the site, signaling to the Arlington community that meaningful change is already underway.”
Blackwater Development said in September it looks forward to announcing the first wave of tenants when agreements are finalized.
“We know the community is eager to see who will be part of this new beginning,” McGee said, adding that Blackwater looks forward “to making those announcements soon.”
Blackwater Development took a significant step Aug. 7 when it appointed Thomas Duke Architect as the principal architectural firm for The Nexus at Regency.
Blackwater Development LLC bought the bulk of the Arlington mall property April 9 for $19.1 million from New York-based limited liability companies associated with Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group.
Regency Square Mall’s last two interior East Mall tenants closed May 31.
A Publix grocery store is a step closer to being part of the 1,003-acre residential, retail and industrial development in North Jacksonville at northeast Pecan Park Road and Interstate 95.
Jacksonville City Council voted 16-0 on Nov. 12 to approve Ordinance 2025-0763, which grants a zoning exception to Publix Supermarkets Inc. to allow for retail sales and service of all alcoholic beverages for on-premises and off-premises consumption at Publix and a separate Publix Liquor store in the mixed-use development.
Council members Matt Carlucci, Rory Diamond and Ju’Coby Pittman were not present for the vote.
The development site is owned by entities of Benderson Development Co. LLC of the Sarasota area.
The grocery and liquor store would be built in the same plaza but in separate units, according to a Planning Department report on the exception. A map shows a new road north through the property called Nexus Place. The area wraps around what is now an Amoco gas station.
The Benderson property has been in development for several years. It is bordered by I-95 to the west and CSX rail tracks to the east near North Main Street.