Sprouts Farmers Market is the first signed tenant for a commercial development planned for the former Sears site at Orange Park Mall, which closed in 2020 and was sold in April.
Cory Presnick, principal of the property owner, Corta Orange Park FTU LLC, said Sprouts is the shopping center’s “primary anchor tenant.”
Sprouts, which is planned to occupy 23,137 square feet at the plaza, specializes in natural and organic products and, according to the company website, a new location could create more than 100 jobs. Those include positions for department managers, cashiers and courtesy clerks.
The closest Sprouts to the Orange Park Plaza store is about 25 miles away in Jacksonville at 12675 Beach Blvd.
Neptune-based Corta purchased the Sears property, including its parking area, from parent company Transformco, through TF Orange Park FL LLC. The purchase price was not disclosed, but a recorded mortgage shows the buyer obtained a $41.3 million loan.
Based in Illinois, Transformco is a privately held company formed in 2019 by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert to acquire the assets of Sears Holdings after its bankruptcy.
The commercial project, Orange Park Plaza, is proposed to include five anchor tenants and additional retail across seven outparcels, according to project plans under review in Clay County.
Presnick said there are conversations with other potential tenants to round out the development.
“I can confirm we have an executed lease with Sprouts, but I don’t want to say too much more at this time,” he said, adding that ownership was in conversations with “another great anchor.”
Mediterranean restaurant Cava is shown on site plans for one of the outparcels, but Presnick said there is not a lease yet.
Another planned outparcel tenant is Savannah, Georgia-based convenience store and gas station chain Parker’s Kitchen. Clay County is reviewing plans for a location at the site that would replace the former Sears Auto Center, which later operated as Red Dirt Motorcycles before closing in 2023.
Presnick said Parker’s Kitchen is under contract to purchase the property on the southwestern portion of Orange Park Plaza along Blanding Boulevard.
The store would be the company’s first location in Clay County.
Before redevelopment can begin, the former Sears department store and auto center must be demolished, with the county issuing a demolition permit June 16, ahead of predemolition inspection sign-off.
Presnick said the Sears building cannot simply be torn down because one of its walls is structurally shared with the rest of the mall. He said efforts are focused on preparing and bracing the wall from inside the Sears space to maintain the mall’s structural integrity during demolition.
“I guess the best way to put it is we want it to be completely down by Sept. 30 so the site work and other construction can begin in October or November,” he said.
Presnick said the goal is for Orange Park Plaza to be completed and operating by October 2027.
The planning commission is scheduled to review the development Aug. 4 before a planned Board of County Commissioners public hearing Aug. 25.
Sears was one of the mall’s original anchors when it opened in September 1975. It closed in 2020, the last of the company’s three Jacksonville-area stores to cease operations.