Fields Auto Group is working toward building a Mercedes-Benz of Jacksonville service center as one of the two or three luxury brand dealerships it intends to develop on property it bought in December 2022 in World Commerce Center in St. Johns County.
The St. Johns River Water Management District is reviewing an application submitted Jan. 30 for Fields Auto Group in Orlando to clear and grade 5.8 acres of the 15.5-acre site it owns along World Commerce Parkway.
The conceptual site plan data specifies a 27,097-square-foot facility while plans show a 24,815-square-foot building.
“All I can tell you is that we are planning on building automotive sales and service centers,” said Shermin Pelinski, general counsel for Fields Auto Group, in an email June 5, 2023.
“We anticipate 2 to 3 luxury brands/dealerships,” she said, but could not discuss which brands.
The site is south of the proposed Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, which is south of Costco Wholesale, which opened in August 2022.
Fields Motorcars of Florida Inc. in Orlando paid $10 million for 15.5 acres in a purchase that closed Dec. 6, 2022. It bought the vacant land from Jacksonville-based Steinemann-Wolfe LLC.
Steinemann is the developer of the World Commerce Center Development of Regional Impact, which is at Interstate 95 and International Golf Parkway.
The Fields Auto Group site address is St. Augustine.
Along with the sale, Steinemann Development Company – Florida Inc. allocated 130,000 square feet of development rights for retail use to Fields Motorcars of Florida Inc.
Pelinski is general counsel of Fields Auto Group in Glencoe, Illinois, near Chicago.
FieldsAuto.com says Fields Auto Group has 34 dealerships in Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
The site says that Fields Auto, which is family owned and operated, began with the opening of Fields Cadillac in Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago, in 1971.
It says it represents Mini, BMW, Bentley Motors, Cadillac, Chrysler, Dodge, Jaguar, Jeep, Karma, Lamborghini, Land Rover and Range Rover, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ram Trucks, Rolls-Royce, Sprinter, Volvo Cars and Mazda.
It also sells used vehicles.
In Northeast Florida, it has Fields Cadillac Jacksonville and Fields Cadillac St. Augustine; Jaguar Jacksonville; Land Rover Jacksonville; Lexus of Jacksonville; Lexus of Orange Park; Mercedes-Benz of Jacksonville; Mercedes-Benz of Orange Park; Porsche Jacksonville; and Fields Collision Jacksonville.
In the Arlington area of Jacksonville, Fields Motorcars of Florida Inc. estimates a potential $10 million investment to demolish, rebuild and renovate its Mercedes-Benz of Jacksonville sales and pre-owned vehicles buildings at 10231 Atlantic Blvd.