Simon Property Group is staging construction at the site of the proposed fourth phase of St. Johns Town Center.
Equipment is in place and part of the parking lot is fenced and out of service at the southeast corner of the property at southeast Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295.
A Simon spokesperson has not responded.
Simon requested a site-clearing permit in August for 37 acres at 4663 River City Drive, the address for the regional shopping center.
The city is reviewing the permit application for tree removal and horizontal development. It specifies “plant removal replacement at St. Johns Town Center” at a cost of $250,000.
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group operates the 1.4 million-square-foot regional shopping center.
St. Johns Town Center opened 15 years ago and completed its third phase, anchored by a Nordstrom store, in 2014.
The permit does not say the site clearing is for the retail construction, although the location and acreage matches plans filed for it.
The fourth phase is designed among four parcels. It includes a theater, hotel, and a building that has been identified as RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, according to documents filed with reviewers.
The fourth-phase land primarily is undeveloped or used for parking east of True Food Kitchen, J. Alexander’s and the shops that include Tesla and Apple. The land is south of Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Plans filed with the city in August show four fourth-phase parcels on 41.02 acres, comprising:
• A 600-seat, 36,000-square-foot theater on Parcel 1, east of Shops V and W, which are the stores generally from Urban Outfitters to Coach. No brand is identified. That size is smaller than the new theaters in the area. Smaller specialty theaters tend to focus on the upscale dinner-and-a-movie concept with luxury seating.
• A 43,000-square-foot building on Parcel 2, east of the restaurants and the Tesla building. Its tenant use – retail or entertainment – was not specified. Plans filed in November identify RH as the tenant for a 42,759-square-foot building in that phase.
• A 118-room, 72,000-square-foot unidentified hotel on Parcel 3 in front of the Uptown at St. Johns apartments at 5290 Big Island Drive. That appears to be an AC Hotels by Marriott.
• A 15,300-square-foot addition to a 14,700-square-foot building near Nordstrom. That is Parcel 4.
There appears to be space remaining for surface parking. Eventual designs would show if each parcel contains parking spaces for customers.
