More intentions are surfacing for the redevelopment of at least part of the deteriorating 58-year-old Regency Square Mall property, which is facing almost $2 million in city code compliance fees.
The project now has a name, at least a preliminary one – The Nexus at Regency.
And a definition – 11 commercial outparcels at northwest Atlantic Boulevard and Monument Road in Arlington. That size has surfaced on previous plans.
Applicant EnVision Design + Engineering LLC of Jacksonville applied March 3 to the JEA, which is the city’s utility, for a determination of utility service at the property. Owner Doug Skiles did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
No developer is identified, nor is there a site plan.
However, previous JEA applications show sites for a Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers on Outparcel 1 and a gas station/convenience store on Outparcel 5 among the 11 outparcels.
A service availability request does not mean there is a confirmed project. It indicates the property is being explored for development.
The March 3 application is for 9501 Arlington Expressway, the address for Regency Square Mall, which is considered at a central location in Jacksonville.
Nexus might refer to its site.
The mall is along the Arlington Expressway at the split with Atlantic Boulevard, and between Interstate 295 and Monument Road, providing direct access to Downtown, the Beaches, and North and South Jacksonville.
The description is for “creation of (11) commercial outparcels within the existing parking lot along Atlantic Blvd and Monument Road.” The estimated daily usage is “based on a mix of restaurant and retail.”
Previously filed plans have indicated the 11 outparcels would wrap around the inside of the southeast corner of the property at Atlantic Boulevard and Monument Road.
The real estate number corresponds to the property owned by three LLCs led by New York-based Regency Mall Realty LLC, which bought the mall for $13 million on Feb. 14, 2014.
It sold off the movie theater parcel behind the mall and it sold the closed Belk store in the center of the mall to Impact Church.
Sears and the Dillard’s Clearance Center also are separately owned.
Regency Mall Realty LLC, a partnership of Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group LLC, both based in Great Neck, New York, owns the bulk of the mall and said Oct. 2, 2023, it had a contract to sell its portion.
Lake City-based Blackwater Development LLC announced Oct. 16, 2023, that it has a contract to buy that part of the mall.
Blackwater Development projects a closing, pending due diligence and reaching terms, by the end of the first quarter, which is March 31.
No terms have been announced, nor has Blackwater Development indicated any partnerships in the purchase.
Ongoing deterioration at Regency Square Mall has generated city code compliance fines of $1.85 million as of March 3 to the ownership of the largely vacant multitenant retail space at the shopping center.
The city said in an email Feb. 3 that the Jacksonville Office of General Counsel has met with Blackwater Development LLC President Rurmell McGee, and sent him a copy of a settlement agreement template to review and, pending due diligence to make the purchase, to complete. As of March 3, the Office of Economic Development has not received an application from a prospective buyer regarding possible settlement options.
Plans so far
JEA issued a service availability determination letter Feb. 12 for a 2,786-square-foot, 75-seat Raising Cane’s on 1.34 acres that appears to be Outparcel 1.
A map with the Jan. 29 application showed the site is where Atlantic Boulevard meets the Arlington Expressway in the front of the mall.
A plan dated Oct. 2, 2024, indicates a double drive-thru. Consolidated Development Services of Addison, Texas, is the applicant and agent.
“We are taking over a small portion of an existing mall parcel located at the address noted in this request,” the application said.
The site plan shows Raising Cane’s at the main front entrance that is owned by Namdar Realty Group LLC.
That entrance roadway would divide the mall parcels with Impact Church to the west and potential redeveloped property to the east, where the existing mall likely would be demolished.
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is building its first Jacksonville location in Oakleaf Station in Southwest Jacksonville.
JEA previously issued a service availability letter Dec. 26, 2024, in response to Dec. 10 request regarding a proposed 5,200-square-foot convenience store and gas station on a 1.42-acre site that appears to be Outparcel 5.
It is called “CK Atlantic Blvd & Monument Rd,” hinting that it could be a Circle K.
Bohler Engineering of Orlando is the civil engineer.
The gas station site plan showed it along another proposed access road off of Atlantic Boulevard.
The description called it “part of a master redevelopment.”
The outparcels are shown as 1.16 to 2.21 acres.
The existing Firestone auto care store is shown on the 1.23-acre corner Outparcel 7.
Based on the gas station and convenience store site plan dated Sept. 25 by EnVision Design & Engineering, it appears that the eastern part of the mall would be redeveloped, although no specific uses are indicated.
A Sept. 25 gas station and convenience store site plan does not specify demolition, but the enclosed east mall is listed as “Main Parcel 2.”
The parking lot to the north is “Main Parcel 1.”
Impact Church, the Dillard’s Clearance Center and Sears are not within the master development plan as now outlined.
Property records show the Regency Mall Realty LLC group owns about 74 acres and about 980,200 square feet of retail space at Regency Square.
Redevelopment
Blackwater Development President Rurmell McGee said May 29 the purchase could be completed by the first quarter of 2025, pending due diligence and other issues. He has had no comment on the JEA applications.
He said that parts of Regency Square Mall would be demolished and the property redeveloped with multifamily housing, retail, entertainment and other uses pending the largely vacant regional mall’s sale.
A recent visit to the mall found that just two stores remain open within the interior of the east side of the mall – Rogers Jewelers and Tokyo Sakura, the only food court tenant.
Property records show the Regency Mall Realty LLC group owns about 74 acres and about 980,200 square feet of retail space at Regency Square.
There are two portions shown on the gas station site plan filed with JEA.
A roadway with a roundabout runs north from Regency Square Boulevard south to where the Arlington Expressway connects with Atlantic Boulevard.
Impact Church is northwest of the roundabout.
The 41.84-acre eastern site is at northwest Atlantic Boulevard and Monument Road.
The 35-acre site is west of that, north of the Arlington Expressway.