Hakimian Holdings bought the Pottsburg Plaza shopping center at northeast University and Atlantic boulevards and already has signed a lease with MCCI Medical Group.
Jacksonville-based Hakimian renamed the center Gates of Pottsburg Plaza and will launch a facade renovation along with lighting, landscape and parking lot improvements.
President Ben Hakimian said MCCI Medical Group leased about 11,000 square feet of space next to the standalone Walgreens.
A pending building permit shows a $1 million construction build-out for the medical center.
Hakimian said MCCI, which is associated with Humana Inc., hopes to be able to see patients there starting Aug. 1.
Through Gates of Pottsburg Plaza LLC, Hakimian paid $2.64 million for the property, comprising the 14,000-square-foot Walgreens and about a 22,000-square-foot multitenant building.
Walgreens has a long-term lease. Other remaining tenants include a hair salon, Boost mobile and Hot Wok restaurant.
Hakimian said about 8,000 square feet remains available for lease and he foresees more medical tenants.
He said restaurants, a hardware store and others are calling him with interest in the site.
Records show the multitenant structure at 23 University Blvd. was built in 1953 and the Walgreens at 11 University Blvd. was developed in 1996.
The property was sold by Bear Stearns 04-PWR5 Pottsburg Plaza LLC, which took title to the property in March 2015.
MCCI has six other locations in Northeast Florida. The building permit application shows HUM Provider Holdings LLC as the owner. HUM is based at Humana Inc.’s headquarters in Louisville, Ky.
MCCI drove the deal, Hakimian said.
The company, a tenant in some of Hakimian’s other properties, said it wanted to be at that corner, “so we bought the center and put them in there.”
That practice will continue. Hakimian said that as existing tenants decide on their next areas of expansion, “we go out and buy it and put them there.”
“We are building on our existing relationships and good name,” he said.
Hakimian Holdings owns 22 retail centers in Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
It expanded into the commercial office market early last year with the $11.4 million acquisition of Liberty Center along Butler Boulevard in Southside. Hakimian moved his corporate headquarters from Mandarin to the building.
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