Lotte Plaza Market can put its name on its new Jacksonville grocery store under development in the Regency area of Arlington.
The city issued a permit Feb. 4 for General Sign Service Corp. of Jacksonville to put up the sign at the former Best Buy at 9355 Atlantic Blvd., not far from Regency Square Mall.
The $2,400 project cost includes the sign and the leaf logo for the store, which specializes in Asian groceries.
The sign permit follows one issued Nov. 15, 2024, for Lotte Plaza Market to renovate the store at a cost of $8.99 million.
President Alvin Lee said by email July 15, 2024, that his group was scheduled to start construction in 2024 for a fall or winter opening but changes in the city permitting system resulted in a delay. No opening date has been announced.
“We believe we are near the finish line and the contractors are ready to go once the permits are issued,” he said in July.
He said then it looked a first-quarter 2025 opening, or after. “We will do our best to open as quickly as we can.”
Hawkins Construction Co. of Tarpon Springs is the contractor who will renovate the 45,799-square-foot store for the Lotte Plaza Market.
The markets offer meats, seafood, produce and specialty products, including packaged teas, sauces and fresh fruits and vegetables. They also have food courts and bakeries.
A growing company
The Maryland-based company has 16 stores comprising seven in Virginia, six in Maryland, two in Florida and one in New Jersey.
It opened in Orlando in 2019 and in Tampa in November 2023.
The company has a goal of opening 50 Lotte Plaza Market locations by 2030.
At the Richmond, Virginia, store opening in May 2024, Lee said the next opening would be in Jacksonville and then Miami.
The stores carry Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Philippine, Thai and Indian products, among other foods.
The Richmond store has a French-Asian bakery and an Asian food court with Korean, Japanese and other tastes.
Lee said by email July 15 that Lotte Plaza Market chose Jacksonville for its population and its difference from the rest of the state.
“A large, diverse population and a dynamic, growing environment are some of the things that attracted us to Jacksonville,” he said.
“Different in many ways from central Florida and south Florida, we believe Jacksonville has a unique vibe and cultural heritage different from the rest of Florida. I think the City will continue to enjoy steady growth into the future and we want to be a part of that,” he said.
Lee said the interior will look like the company’s new platform stores in Tampa and Richmond.
Best Buy built the consumer electronics store in 1999 and closed it in March 2021.
SW Jacksonville LLC, led by Maryland-based Sungwon Distributor LLC agent Sang Lee, bought the property in January 2022.
Sungwon Distributor LLC is based in Jessup, Maryland. Sung Lee is the CEO.
The city has been reviewing plans for the renovation of the Best Buy on almost 3.4 acres.
Plans show interior and exterior renovations.
Inside, plans show grocery, meat, seafood and produce areas and at least seven food vendor stations and a food court area.
There also is space for a bakery.
Colliers International Florida Executive Director Jason Ryals and Senior Associate Gina Kline in Jacksonville represented the seller in the transaction. Ryals said the purchase price was $4 million.
Lotteplaza.com says the company was founded in 1976 and opened in Maryland in 1989.
Sang Lee registered with the state to do business in Florida.
Other new markets
Lotte Plaza Market follows the February 2024 opening of RD International Market in a renovated 52,600-square-foot Winn-Dixie that closed in 2017 in the Hogan area. The store is at 7534 Beach Blvd. in the Beach Boulevard Shopping Center near the eastern access to the Hart Expressway.
RD International Market is an Asian and international supermarket.
Also, Asian and international foods grocer Enson Market has applied to the city for a Certificate of Use to operate a grocery store in a space now occupied by a Winn-Dixie supermarket in the Mandarin area.
The application follows Enson Market Jax Inc.’s registration Oct. 8 with the Florida Division of Corporations, listing the business at 11101 Old St. Augustine Road, the address for a Winn-Dixie store.
Enson Market Jax Inc. said in the city application dated Nov. 20 that it intends to open a 44,000-square-foot store at that address.
Enson Markets are supplied by Enson Group of Cincinnati. The closest of the three Florida stores is in Gainesville.