Jacksonville-based developer Sleiman Enterprises is exploring development of a gas station along the south side of Atlantic Boulevard, not far from the Atlantic North shopping center it owns in East Arlington.
JEA, the municipal area utility, is reviewing a service-availability request for the unidentified brand on 3.44 acres directly across Atlantic Boulevard from its intersection with Abess Boulevard.
It is across Atlantic Boulevard from the Tesla sales, service and delivery center and the AutoNation USA used-car dealership.
Abess Boulevard runs north and behind Atlantic North, connecting with Kernan Boulevard.
A JEA request means that a project might be under consideration and does not a mean a deal will be done.
Jacksonville civil engineering firm Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. is the applicant.
Atlantic North
Atlantic North, at 11901 Atlantic Blvd. at northwest Atlantic and Kernan boulevards, is anchored by LA Fitness, Belk, Academy Sports + Outdoors and Cinemark. The center also has a RaceTrac and 7-Eleven, both with gas pumps.
Atlantic North is the site of a potential 59,000-square-foot supermarket with an adjacent 3,200-square-foot liquor store between LA Fitness and Academy.
That store fits the description of Harris Teeter, which has just one Florida store 34 to 41 miles north, depending on the route, in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.
Harris Teeter, based in North Carolina and owned by Kroger Co., also operates Harris Teeter Fuel Centers.
That raises the question whether the gas station being explored is for Harris Teeter.
A Harris Teeter spokesperson responded July 29 with the same quote provided June 25 when asked about the potential grocery store:
“We only speak to locations where we are currently operating a store or have executed a lease for a future site.”
The HarrisTeeter.com site shows 74 gas stations in the five states of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, with the bulk in its home state of North Carolina.
However, the 55,000-square-foot Amelia Island grocery store has a Harris Teeter gas station nearby. Nassau County issued a permit Oct. 9, 2020, to remodel the 5,880-square Flash Foods on 1.68 acres at a project cost of $350,000 for a Harris Teeter Fuel Center.
Harris Teeter is at 4800 First Coast Highway in Fernandina Beach. The fuel center is at 5518 S. Fletcher Ave.
Both are at southeast Fletcher Avenue and First Coast Highway.
In another twist, JEA issued a service availability letter to Kimley-Horn on Aug. 21, 2023, for the site, called the Atlantic South Outparcel, for a gas station with eight fueling stations, indicating the project may have been under consideration for a few years. The letter said it would expire in two years.
About the grocery store
JEA issued a service availability letter June 13 detailing the water, sewer and electric connections for the Atlantic North inline grocer and adjacent liquor store. The application was submitted June 9.
Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc. and Winn-Dixie, a brand of Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers, said it wasn’t them.
Few, if any, other grocery chains with liquor stores are in the size range of a 59,000-square-foot supermarket and an adjacent 3,200-square-foot liquor store.
It is not the smaller Earth Fare that closed on the other side of Academy. That retail space is now leased to a furniture store.
Other chains with liquor stores are larger, such as Walmart Supercenter, which is a discount department store that has a grocery department. A grocery store is specified on the preliminary JEA site plan.
Plus, a Walmart Supercenter operates across Atlantic Boulevard from Atlantic North.
Sleiman Enterprises’ site brochure for the property shows a “future build area” in the inline space with no identified tenant.
Firms associated with the project, including Sleiman Enterprises and Kimley-Horn, have declined comment or did not respond.