The site of the long-closed Kmart in the Mandarin area is a step closer to becoming a Home Depot after the Jacksonville City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee approved a rezoning for the property May 7.
The LUZ voted 5-0 in favor of a request to rezone the 11.51-acre property at 9600 San Jose Blvd. to Planned Unit Development to allow the big-box retailer to build a 133,123-square-foot store that includes a 25,225-square-foot garden center.
Committee member Rory Diamond did not vote and member Raul Arias was excused from the meeting.
The Home Depot plans to demolish the 105,737-square-foot Kmart building and replace it with the new store, according to construction plans filed Jan. 18 with an environmental resource permit application to the St. Johns River Water Management District. The rezoning legislation that was approved by the committee, 2024-0194, included an amended site plan. That plan was not immediately available.
The site is between Sunbeam and Kori roads and is accessible by San Jose Boulevard.
According to documentation filed with the rezoning request, Ordinance 2024-0194, the store would produce an additional 2,127 car trips per day on San Jose Boulevard, which is at 78% vehicle capacity at the site.
The Planning Department staff recommended approval of the PUD with no additional conditions, and the Planning Commission voted 7-0 in favor of it after a hearing that drew no speakers in opposition to the rezoning and prompted little discussion among commissioners.
The Kmart store opened in 1979, according to the local publication The Jaxson. In 2016, the store’s owner, Sears Holdings Corp., closed it as part of a national wave of closings that saw 68 Kmart units and 10 Sears stores shuttered. The Kmart at 500 Atlantic Blvd. in Neptune Beach was also closed at that time.
The ordinance will now go to the City Council for final action.