Baptist Health Properties Inc. bought San Marco East Plaza business park Dec. 15 for $38 million.
Prescott Group of Dallas sold the property through PSF I JAX Metro LLC. The campus, built in 1961 as a retail mall but now housing tenants that include The Edge Rock Gym and Excel Church, is at 3563 Philips Highway north of Emerson Street and west of Interstate 95.
Baptist Health operates The Homeyer Family Simulation Lab at the Baptist Center for Professional Excellence at San Marco East, offering nurse assistant training program classes.
In an emailed statement, Baptist Health said the property’s “central location and accessibility from our many locations throughout the region make it a versatile space for many purposes. Baptist Health has leased in this space for nearly 20 years, demonstrating its value to our operations.”
“Current use of the space includes professional development/training space, business offices and THE PLAYERS Center for Child Health at Wolfson Children’s,” the statement read.
Baptist Health Properties Inc. did not disclose its plans for the property.
The plaza is on 29.68 acres, including the parking lot and associated vacant land zoned for commercial use. The Duval County Property Appraiser lists seven buildings. The combined interior is 375,752 square feet, according to property appraiser records.
The Community First Igloo ice rink is adjacent to San Marco East Plaza. Prescott sold the rink building in 2022 for $6 million to the owner of the Jacksonville Icemen hockey team.
San Marco East Plaza was originally known as Philips Highway Plaza.
When it opened, tenants included Montgomery Ward, S.H. Kress Co., F. W. Woolworth Co., the Plaza Theater, Liggett Drugs, Zales Jewelry, Vogue, Kinney Shoes and Thom McAn Shoes.
In the late 1970s. Florida Community College at Jacksonville, now Florida State College at Jacksonville, maintained administrative offices and some academic space at the property. FSCJ began transferring its operations at the park to its Downtown campus beginning in 2010.
In 2019, The Prescott Group acquired the property from Moteli Properties of Montreal in a foreclosure sale for $5,800 and assumed $57.9 million in debt.