Hoping to take advantage of a tightening office market in other parts of town, the vacant Three Oaks Plaza along the Arlington Expressway is being rebranded and has been listed for sale or lease.
Colliers International Northeast Florida represents the South Florida-based ownership group.
Omega Group Center LLC of Aventura bought the two buildings and some vacant land in July for $2.25 million.
Bob Selton, president and CEO of Colliers in Northeast Florida, said the property will be rebranded as Omega Oaks and will be offered to investors or large office tenants.
“This is one of the few existing continuous big blocks of space out on the Southside of town and it could be a good campus for somebody if they need 180,000 square feet,” Selton said.
Each building is six stories. Omega Oaks I is 96,541 square feet and Omega Oaks II is 91,396 square feet. That totals 187,937 square feet, a significant available space in the market.
Selton said owners seek tenants to take at least half of a building. “The goal is not to do small leases,” Selton said.
He said there was no reason to compete with the available smaller spaces in the market. “What is lacking is large, contiguous space,” he said.
Lease rates are $16 a square foot, full service. The structures are listed for sale at $5.2 million for both, or $3.6 million each.
The buildings are at 7960 and 8000 Arlington Expressway. They were built in 1972 and 1973. Selton said they have been remodeled since then.
Also, he said Omega Group Center was holding on to the additional undeveloped acreage, reported as 6.32 acres at the time of the sale.
Selton said the two buildings have been vacant for several years.
The two structures and a third one nearby initially housed the offices of Offshore Power Systems, which was a partnership between Tenneco and Westinghouse to build offshore nuclear power plants.
Then came delays and environmental concerns.
By the early 1980s, utility companies canceled orders and OPS laid off most of its staff of 1,500 in Jacksonville.
Property records indicate the Arlington Expressway property was sold in the early 1980s and several times since.
Selton said Omega Center’s two structures have been painted and the parking lots have been sealed and re-striped, he said. There are four parking spaces for each 1,000 square feet of space.
Selton said the buildings had been fully leased in the 1990s before the office-market flight to the Butler Boulevard area.
With the Butler corridor at a 6 percent vacancy rate, Selton said Omega Oaks offers options to tenants who either can’t find big blocks or space or cannot wait or afford to build a new structure.
“They could be in these buildings quicker and at a lot less money,” he said. The sale price works out to be $27.67 a square foot, a lot less than new construction would cost.
Selton said Colliers has received some inquiries about acquisition.
Adding amenities, such as an on-site café, would be based on tenant demand, he said.
Selton said the structures are five minutes from Downtown and 20 minutes from the Beaches. They also are near the restaurants and services in the Regency area.
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