Leaders of Jacksonville-based Summit Contracting Group Inc. bought a suburban Deerwood Center office building Thursday as they prepare for growth.
At the same time, they listed their current Summit Tower headquarters at 1000 Riverside Ave. for sale at $16 million as they searched for the Southside site.
Summit Director of Client Relations Aaron Trascritti said Tuesday there is no firm plan to sell the nine-story, 82,000-square-foot tower, where Summit is based, and there are no plans to relocate headquarters staff to the new location.
“There isn't a set plan to sell this one. They wanted to see where this one was at” in marketability, Trascritti said.
“It was bought to make room for Summit's growth,” he said. Completion is “a ways out.”
Padgett Premiere Property I LLC paid $2.86 million for the two-story Oak Grove Plaza building in Deerwood Center. It bought the 49,338-square-foot structure at 7595 Baymeadows Way from Somera Road Inc.
Daniel Burkhardt, Keith Goldfaden and Luke Feldman of NAI Hallmark announced Tuesday they represented the property seller.
It was built in 1983.
“Summit has been getting bigger and has continued to grow and we are getting to a point where we need more space for our own people,” Trascritti said.
A tenant remains in the Deerwood Center building until May, he said.
Trascritti said Summit will renovate the Deerwood building for offices, a showroom, a full kitchen and other uses.
“We plan to renovate the new campus within the next year or so,” he said. “It's really just for our company to be able to continue growing.”
Trascritti said he was not sure which departments will move to Deerwood.
“While Summit plans to utilize the open space in the building for future growth, there are no full relocation plans in place,” he said.
The Summit Tower listing is on LoopNet.com and showcase.com. Scott Nyman, a partner in Summit Realty Partners LLC, is the listing agent.
“When they first started looking into other properties, because they can foresee the growth that Summit is going to have, it makes sense to see what our current property is worth,” Trascritti said.
“But there still isn't a set plan of knowing what we are going to do or whether we would or wouldn't stay there,” he said.
The ownership groups of Summit Tower, the Deerwood building and Summit Contracting Group share leadership.
Padgett Premiere Property I LLC, which bought the Deerwood building, is led by Summit Realty Partners LLC, whose managers are Nicole Padgett and Nyman.
Padgett Premiere Properties LLC, which owns the tower, is led by Marc and Nicole Padgett and Nyman.
Summit Contracting Group is led by Marc Padgett as president and treasurer and Nicole Padgett as chief administrative officer.
Trascritti said Summit Contracting Group is a tenant in the tower and remains under lease.
While the Summit Tower houses the headquarters, the building is best known in some circles for the River & Post Restaurant & Rooftop Lounge.
Marc and Nicole Padgett wanted to change the corporate image of Summit Contracting Group when they bought the building on 1.15 acres at Riverside Avenue and Post Street for $3 million in October 2014 and launched more than $4 million in renovations.
They leased it to Summit-related groups, which have three floors, and to other tenants. Summit took occupancy in June 2015.
The listing says it is fully occupied. It was built in 1963.
Trascritti said that for now, Summit's use of the Riverside space remains the same. He said about 75-80 employees work at the tower, while total employment is about 250 people when counting the field superintendents and employees. Another 15 or so are in the Atlanta office.
Trascritti said the Summit leaders looked at other properties before choosing the Deerwood Center location in Baymeadows, which he said is centrally located for many employees, he said.
“For a lot of employees, it will cut their commute,” he said.
The structure was one of four buildings that New York-based Somera Road Inc. bought in May 2018 for $14.71 million.
It bought the four Oak Grove Plaza offices on 26.35 acres at 7275, 7575, 7585 and 7595 Baymeadows Way.
“We continue to experience strong investor and user demand for office buildings throughout Jacksonville, especially in the Butler/Baymeadows submarket,” said Daniel Burkhardt, vice president of NAI Hallmark.
NAI Hallmark marketed the building in September as an investment offering.
