BJ’s Wholesale Club is cleared for construction at River City Marketplace in North Jacksonville.
The city issued a permit April 20 for T.D. Farrell Construction Inc. of Alpharetta, Georgia, to build the store at a project cost of $8 million.
It includes a liquor shop with a separate entrance and fueling facility.
The 104,148-square-foot wholesale club is under construction at 12884 City Center Blvd. where the closed Regal Cinemas was demolished.
BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. announced March 9 that the new membership warehouse clubs it will open this year, including in North Jacksonville, are expected to create about 150 jobs each and hiring is expected to start soon.
To prepare for construction of BJ’s Wholesale Club, the city approved a demolition permit Oct. 6 for Able Construction Inc. of Jacksonville to demolish the 63,810-square-foot Regal River City Marketplace, previously operated as Hollywood Theaters, at a job cost of $247,000.
The city approved a permit March 9 for Able Construction to do site work on 9 acres at a $1.4 million project cost.
CASCO of St. Louis, Missouri, is the architect. Edwards Engineering is the consulting civil engineering firm. Codes-ABC Inc. is handling code compliance.
The city issued a permit in October to demolish the former 14-screen Regal River City Marketplace, which was built in 2006 on 9 acres.
Property owner Ramco Jacksonville LLC filed civil engineering plans with the city July 27 to replace the Regal with the proposed wholesale club.
Edwards Engineering is the consulting civil engineering firm.
RPT Realty, Ramco’s corporate name, said May 4, 2022, in its first-quarter report to investors that it signed a 103,000-square-foot wholesale club to replace the movie theater, but did not identify it as BJ’s.
It included the news again in its Aug. 3 second-quarter investor presentation that a “National Wholesale Club” will replace the Regal Entertainment Group site in River City Marketplace.
A St. Johns River Water Management District application confirmed in June that BJ’s will replace the theater.
Property owner RPT Realty applied to the district to modify a permit to demolish the theater building and build the wholesale club.
BJ’s is based in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Since opening in New England in 1984, the company operates 237 clubs and 165 BJ’s Gas locations in 18 states.
BJ’s operates three Northeast Florida stores, with one in Orange Park and two in Jacksonville at southeast Kernan and Atlantic boulevards and at northwest Philips Highway and Baymeadows Road.
It also operates a regional distribution center in West Jacksonville.