An unidentified 61,000-square-foot grocery store matching the footprint of Harris Teeter is planned as the anchor of a shopping center in the SilverLeaf community in St. Johns County.
There is no confirmation that the store is Harris Teeter, and the Matthews, North Carolina-based company has not responded to questions about its possible interest in the site.
On Nov. 6, the St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency voted 5-1 to recommend approval of a minor modification to the SilverLeaf Planned Unit Development zoning to allow the store. The modification also would allow an affiliated liquor store and outparcels designed for restaurant tenants to sell alcohol within 270 feet of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Florida instead of the required 1,000 feet.
Board members Chuck Labanowski, Greg Matovina, Robert Olson and Meagan Perkins voted in in favor of the request. Judy Spiegle cast the dissenting vote.
The site is at northeast County Road 16A and SilverLeaf Parkway.
St. Augustine-based The Hutson Co., through White’s Ford Timber LLC, owns the property. Ellen Avery-Smith of the Jacksonville-based Rogers Towers law firm represents the project. England-Thims & Miller Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
Hutson representatives and Avery-Smith decline to comment if Harris Teeter is the planned SilverLeaf grocery store.
Representatives from Publix Super Markets Inc. and Winn-Dixie said those companies are not involved in the project. Whole Foods did not respond to requests for comment, but those stores range from 40,000 to 51,000 square feet in Jacksonville.
With the PZA vote, the modification advances to the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners.
A site plan for the grocery shows a 10-building multifamily development, but as a residential development would not be affected by the minor modification request. The attorney for The Hutson Co. said the potential multifamily development could serve as a buffer between the grocery and the church.
The store is not the first one in review in Northeast Florida that resembles Harris Teeter, whose only Florida location is in Nassau County.
Another proposed grocery store resembling Harris Teeter is under regulatory review for the Atlantic North shopping center in East Arlington. The city issued a mobility fee calculation certificate Aug. 5 assessing a $459,794 fee to offset traffic and transit impacts from a 64,404-square-foot inline grocer planned on 3.71 acres.
On Aug. 11, Dominion Engineering Group Inc. of Jacksonville submitted civil engineering plans for a 62,000-square-foot grocery store and a 3,200-square-foot liquor store at the site. Atlantic North is at 11901 Atlantic Blvd., at northwest Kernan and Atlantic boulevards. The grocer would occupy Unit 400.
Harris Teeter, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co., was co-founded in 1960 by North Carolina grocers W.T. Harris and Willis Teeter, according to the company’s website. It employs about 35,000 people.
In addition to its retail stores, the company operates grocery, frozen food and perishable items distribution centers in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Indian Trail, South Carolina.
Harris Teeter previously operated stores in Jacksonville’s Mandarin neighborhood and in Ponte Vedra Beach, which closed in 2004 and 2006, respectively.
Harris Teeter reports that as of Oct. 29, it operated more than 250 stores and 60 fuel centers, specifying in order North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and the District of Columbia.