St. Johns Town Center updating 4th entry sign

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Mathis Report

St. Johns Town Center received a permit for the fourth updated monument entry sign at a project cost of $102,980.

The replacement sign is planned at 4605 Town Center Parkway at the entrance between McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A at River Marsh Drive.

Plans show the sign will feature Target, Ross, Old Navy and other stores in that part of the Town Center.

The city issued a permit Nov. 12 for Dowling Signs of North Central Florida LLC of High Springs to replace that sign as well as the other three permitted Nov. 6 along Town Center Parkway.

The four signs total a project cost of $402,880.

Almost 20 years after it opened, St. Johns Town Center is replacing the four main entry signs that have greeted visitors since the project launched its first phase of shopping in 2005.

Dowling Signs of North Central Florida also is the contractor on the three permits – two at the main entrance at 10210 and 10211 Midtown Parkway and another at 4815 Big Island Drive.

St. Johns Town Center plans to replace its the monument entry sign at 4605 Town Center Parkway at the entrance between McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A at River Marsh Drive.

The existing multitenant monument signs will be removed and replaced.

The two main signs that flank the first-phase entrance at Midtown Parkway - the road that leads to Maggiano’s Little Italy - will be replaced at a project cost of $91,450 each.

The third sign’s project cost is $117,000. That signage is at the connection of Town Center Parkway and Big Island Drive, which wraps around the second and third phases of St. Johns Town Center that include Nordstrom and The Capital Grille.

Left, the current St. Johns Town Center monument sign from when the shopping center was built in 2005. Right, a rendering of the new monument sign planned at Midtown Parkway and Town Center Parkway. This is the entrance that leads directly toward Maggiano's Little Italy resturant.

In addition to the name St. Johns Town Center, A Simon Mall, tenant names among the first three signs could include Dillard’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nordstrom, RH, AC Marriott, Barnes & Noble, Pinstripes, The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and The Capital Grille.

Simon Property Group of Indianapolis is the landlord of the center, which anchors northwest Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295.

The signage tenant names span the center’s four phases.

St. Johns Town Center opened its first phase March 18, 2005, the second Oct. 26, 2007, and the third Oct. 10, 2014.

The second phase, which opened just before the 2007-09 recession, brought in upscale retailers like Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton and Coach.

Left, The St. Johns Town Center monument sign at Town Center Parkway and Big Island Drive. The sign, near Truist Bank, will be replaced with the sign at right.

The third phase was anchored by Nordstrom, which opened a two-level, 124,000-square-foot department store.

The fourth phase was designed among four parcels.

Two of those are built – RH Jacksonville, formerly called Restoration Hardware, and the AC Hotels by Marriott.

RH opened Nov. 19, 2021. The hotel opened in March 2024.

Indoor bowling operator Pinstripes wants to build at the site of the demolished West Elm along Buckhead Branch Drive, near Nordstrom, with a projected opening in 2025.