Costco Wholesale Corp. bought 15.9 acres Tuesday in Southwest Jacksonville for construction of its second area store.
Costco, based in Issaquah, Washington, paid $3.44 million for the property at Collins and Parramore roads, south of Interstate 295 and across from Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Harmony Farms of Jacksonville L.L.C. sold the land to Costco.
Building plans show Costco wants to develop an almost 155,000-square-foot wholesale club at 7935 Parramore Road.
The city is reviewing building permits for the warehouse and a Costco fueling station at a construction cost of $12.6 million.
It opened its first store in 2000 near St. Johns Town Center. That’s 23 miles and across the St. Johns River from the new site.
The Southwest Jacksonville deal follows years of negotiations among Costco, Harmony Farms, the city and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
A city ordinance calls for Costco to build Parramore Road to connect Collins Road with Youngerman Circle.
A ditch also will be relocated to create a buffer around the shopping center.
The new Costco is expected to alleviate congestion at the Town Center site as well where two more retail centers are under development.