As J.C. Penney Co. Inc. exited bankruptcy last week, the company sold its Jacksonville store property at The Avenues mall to a new real estate company formed in the Chapter 11 reorganization.
While the property was sold, the store at 10308 Southside Blvd. remains open.
J.C. Penney’s reorganization plan included selling its retail and operating assets to a partnership of mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management.
A real estate entity owned by the company’s lenders was formed to take over 160 properties owned by J.C. Penney, which included The Avenues store site.
J.C. Penney has one other Northeast Florida store still open at the Orange Park Mall, but Clay County records do not show the company owning that property.
J.C. Penney had 846 stores before filing for Chapter 11 in May in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Soon after the filing, it announced plans to close 154 stores, including its other Jacksonville store at Regency Square Mall.
The Regency store closed in October.
A deed filed Dec. 7 in Duval County shows The Avenues store at 10308 Southside Blvd. was sold to an entity called Store 2430 LLC for $5.445 million.
Florida corporate records show Store 2430's address at the former Plano, Texas, headquarters office of J.C. Penney.
J.C. Penney had owned the store since 1989, before the mall opened in 1990, according to Duval County Property Appraiser records.
J.C. Penney completed the sale of its store operations to Simon and Brookfield on Dec. 7.
“With this closing, our operating company has exited Chapter 11 and is continuing under new ownership and the JCPenney banner,” J.C. Penney CEO Jill Soltau said in a news release.
“We have accomplished our goal of putting JCPenney on a secure path for the future as a private company so that we can continue to serve our loyal customers,” she said.
