The proposed Exchange at Jacksonville mixed-use retail project near St. Johns Town Center apparently won’t be developed, at least anytime soon.
Property owner representative A.C. “Chip” Skinner III said Aug. 3 the property is no longer under contract to Atlanta-based developer Jeff Fuqua.
“As you can imagine, the retail, Fuqua has been delayed indefinitely,” he said. Asked whether Fuqua still had the property under contract, Skinner said: “No, they do not.” He said the contract expired.
Fuqua, who introduced the project in March 2019 at the International Council of Shopping Centers North Florida Idea Exchange in Jacksonville, has not responded to calls, texts or emails seeking comment.
Fuqua expected to buy the land early this year from the Skinner family. The 67-acre site is within the family’s 1,063 acres at southeast Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295.
The location is opposite St. Johns Town Center, which was developed on former Skinner land at northwest Butler and I-295.
Skinner said most of the single-family residential property in the Southeast Quadrant is under contract and is expected to close before year-end.
On March 28, 2019, Fuqua, principal of Fuqua Development, unveiled plans for his proposed $300 million mixed-use project called the Exchange at Jacksonville.
Plans included retail, entertainment, hotel, office and apartment development.
A video presentation showed a 20-kitchen Bold City Food Hall to include several Jacksonville concepts. A dinner and movie theater, bowling alley, specialty grocery store and more amenities were included.
There also were plans for two luxury hotels, four apartment complexes and buildings with ground-floor retail topped by apartments and offices.
Construction was expected to start in the first quarter.
Fuqua said in March 2019 he had been working with the Skinner family for more than a year.
The Fuqua project was designed for up to 350,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space; 650 to 700 multifamily units; two hotels; and a 60,000-square-foot office structure with the ability to place another 40,000 square feet of space over other buildings to create multistory structures.
The overall Skinner site is designed for residential neighborhoods, the village center that Fuqua planned to develop, and regional office and commercial uses.
Project development plans submitted to the city indicate that the 1,063-acre Southeast Quadrant property could be developed with about 4,600 dwelling units, 3.5 million square feet of nonresidential space, 30 acres for recreation open space, 150 acres of passive open space and 165 acres of public rights-of-way or private thoroughfares.
In April 2019, the Skinner family announced it wanted to sell 400 to 450 acres to a master housing developer-builder to develop up to 4,600 homes on a portion of the property.
The family said it will retain about 125-150 acres primarily along I-295 designated as mixed-use that could be sold later.
ICI Homes and David Weekley Homes appear to be the first residential builders at the property.
CND-ICI SEQ LLC, a joint venture of Classic Neighborhoods Development LLC and Intervest Construction of Jax Inc., partnered for the initial residential development.
Classic Neighborhoods Development is a subsidiary of Houston-based David Weekley Homes. Intervest Construction is part of Daytona Beach-based ICI Homes.
The city issued a conditional capacity availability statement Oct. 7 for Southeast Quadrant Residential Phase 1, comprising 453 single-family homes and 34 townhomes on 196 acres.
