Town Center Parkway’s west side won’t look the same in a few years.
Now, there’s undeveloped lakefront land on the site, just opposite the parkway from St. Johns Town Center.
By late 2016 or early 2017, there could be a grocery store, restaurants, financial offices, retailers, a 150-key hotel and about 350 apartments on the site, called Town Center Exchange.
Core Property Capital is expected to buy the 63.3 acres by the end of the year from members of the Skinner family of landowners, according to a real estate adviser who is marketing the sites for sale, lease or build-to-suit projects.
An ordinance to rezone the lakefront property shows that almost 28 acres will be developed for the apartments, commercial space and hotel, with another almost 8 acres for recreation and rights-of-way.
The rest is passive open space and a part of the lake.
The site runs from Midtown Parkway north to Brightman Boulevard. That takes it along Town Center Parkway opposite Jared to Publix.
“There is more demand to be at St. Johns Town Center than at any other trade area,” said Tom Mundy with The Shopping Center Group LLC.
He is working with Core Property Capital on tenants and buyers for the sites once Core Property Capital acquires the land from members of the Skinner family.
HE Otter LLC and Charles Brightman Skinner Jr., as trustee of the Charles Brightman Skinner Jr. Trust, own the land. HE Otter LLC is led by a member of the Skinner family.
City Council is reviewing a rezoning ordinance for a planned unit development to encompass plans by Core Property Capital, which has offices in Atlanta and Naples.
Core Property Capital is a real estate investor, asset manager and developer that has completed more than $1.3 billion in commercial real estate deals since 2009, totaling more than 3 million square feet of retail space and about 3,000 multifamily units.
St. Johns Town Center opened in 2005 on more than 200 acres formerly owned by the Skinners. The property includes retailers from Target to Nordstrom and Tiffany & Co.
“It’s the premier retail destination of Northeast Florida. I think there is significant pent-up demand,” Mundy said.
Mundy said tenants are lined up for almost every parcel at Town Center Exchange, but he declined to identify any.
He said the hotel site would be sold for development of a limited-service hotel with a national name.
While Mundy would not identify any of the tenants or buyers, he said a couple would be new to Jacksonville.
Mundy said the property would feature 100,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, along with the hotel and apartments.
Development will be completed in phases, he said.
Core Property Capital will develop the apartments, he said. The rest of the property would be ground-leased to end users and Core Property Capital will develop a few sites as build-to-suit projects.
A site plan shows the 350 apartments in four buildings along the lakefront.
The rest of the property comprises 10 outparcels, including the 2-acre lakefront site to be sold for the hotel.
The remaining nine outparcels range from 0.74 to 5.13 acres. Six are noted as ground leases and three are build-to-suits.
The Core Property Capital site is just north of the more than 60 acres under contract by the Arthur Chester Skinner III Trust to Preferred Growth Properties.
Preferred Growth Properties plans a mixed-use development of retail and commercial space, office space, hotel rooms and multifamily on the 45 acres that can be developed.
Mundy said a lot of developers have wanted to pursue projects in the Town Center area for years and they “now have the opportunity to do so.”
He said the Core Property Capital project is a complementary development to St. Johns Town Center and the Preferred Growth Properties site, which hasn’t begun yet.
Preferred Growth Properties will make traffic improvements to its intersection of Town Center Parkway with Gate Parkway.
Mundy said he was not at liberty to share the projected investment costs of the Town Center Exchange.
The Shopping Center Group’s brochure about the project notes the 2 million square feet of shopping and dining at St. Johns Town Center and its adjacent retail areas, as well as the more than 8 million square feet of office space within two miles and 24.4 million square feet within five miles.
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