Circle K South Atlantic is moving its division office to Jacksonville from Waycross, Georgia, and will employ up to 60 people.
The international convenience-store chain is building-out 11,147 square feet of space on the fourth floor of the five-story North Regency One office building at 9485 Regency Square Blvd. in the North Regency Executive Park.
Heather Risener, brand, communications and advertising manager for the Circle K South Atlantic Division, said Sept. 30 that most of its employees live in the Jacksonville area or plan to relocate.
"However, there are still a handful of job opportunities currently open and we will be posting positions and hiring as needed,” Risener said.
The move tentatively is scheduled by the end of November.
"We feel that moving our corporate office to Jacksonville provides us with opportunities across various portions of our Business Unit," Risener said by email.
"With the International airport close by, it will be easier with inter-company vendor visits. We also feel that Jacksonville could better equip us with broader opportunities for our future growth.”
Risener said that with more than 100 Circle K stores in the Jacksonville area and "with everything Jacksonville has to offer" that "it makes perfect sense to call it our new home."
The city is reviewing a permit application for the build-out.
Jacksonville-based Duckworth Construction Co. is the contractor for the almost $220,000 project. Lane Architecture is the architect.
Plans show open an office area, six offices, three conference rooms, a break room and a reception area.
Risener said Circle K has 13 divisional offices in North America, eight divisional offices in Europe and four in Canada.
She said the South Atlantic business unit division office will house corporate departments such as marketing, finance, facilities, fuel, human resources, IT, construction and real estate.
It supports 402 stores throughout North Florida and South Georgia.
North Regency One is one of two five-floor, 100,000-square-foot structures at the North Regency Executive Park off Interstate 295 and north of Regency Square Mall. Kinasha Corp. owns the property.
Jack Garnett, owner of Garnett Commercial Real Estate Inc., represents the landlord.
Michael Loftin, executive vice president of the JLL real estate company, represented Circle K in the lease negotiations.
Circle K is part of Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Quebec-based international owner of gas stations and convenience stores.
Circle K’s U.S. headquarters are in Tempe, Arizona.
Circle K started in 1951 in Texas. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. bought the company in 2003.
Alimentation brands include Circle K, Kangaroo Express, Holiday and On the Run.
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s bought The Pantry Inc. in 2015 and rebranded Pantry’s area Kangaroo Express Stores as Circle K.
In late 2016, Circle K, which operated about 70 locations in greater Jacksonville, started work on its first new construction since it bought the Kangaroo Express stores.
That store is at 8837 Beach Blvd., west of Southside Boulevard next to the Promenade Shopping Center. More were developed.
Also, in early 2017, Circle K reached a deal to acquire the San Antonio, Texas-based gas station and convenience store chain, CST Brands. As part of the deal, Circle K acquired 1,146 CST Brands c-stores, 164 of them being Flash Foods stores operating in Georgia.