Southside Construction Update - September/October 2014

A brief look at the status of various projects under construction in and around Jacksonville's Edge City, the Southside, during the months of September and October.
What is an Edge City?


Over the Southside's Blue Cross Blue Shield campus.

The term, Edge City, was popularized in the 1991 book Edge City: Life on the New Frontier by Joel Garreau, who established its current meaning while working as a reporter for the Washington Post. Garreau argues that the edge city has become the standard form of urban growth worldwide, representing a 20th-century urban form unlike that of the 19th-century central downtown.

Edge Cities typically consist of mid-rise office towers surrounded by massive surface parking lots and manicured lawns. Instead of a traditional street grid, their infrastructure networks consist of winding parkways (often lacking sidewalks) that feed into arterial roads and freeway ramps. They develop at or near freeway intersections and airports and they rarely include heavy industry.  They are large geographically because they are built at automobile scale.

Edge Cities are impossible without the automobile. In Jacksonville, the Southside, specifically the JTB corridor, has developed into our first true Edge City. Because the Southside is our only emerging Edge City in the midst of a development boom, we have decided to expand our monthly construction updates to include this area of Jacksonville.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_city


September/October 2014 Construction Update






1. Shoppes of Gate Parkway

An office building is being constructed by Beemer & Associates XXXII LLC at the Shoppes of Gate Parkway near the intersection of Gate Parkway and Point Meadows Drive.












2.Spyglass

Being constructed by Perimeter Realty on East Baymeadows Road, Spyglass will add 220 apartments to the Southside.











3. Vistakon Inc.

Contact lense manufacturer Vistakon Inc. is expanding its distribution center from its current 661,174 square-foot building to 765,401 square feet, an addition of 104,227 square feet. The expansion will add 100 jobs to the 1,800 the company currently employees.



For more information: https://www.visionmonday.com/latest-news/article/vistakon-218-million-expansion-will-increase-acuvue-contact-lens-production-and-add-100-jobs/




4. Campfield Commons

Campfield Commons is designed between Baymeadows Road East, R.G. Skinner Boulevard and R.G. Skinner Parkway. Gate Petroleum and McDonald's Restaurant are two tenants that have already been announced.







For more information: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=541234




5. Deerwood Lake Lofts

Construction continues on Deerwood Lake Lofts. The project will add 130 apartment units on an infill site adjacent to Deerwood Lake. Developed by Inland Diversified Real Estate Services, LLC. of Oak Brook, IL, the four story development will include a five-story parking garage.












6. Clarity Pointe Jacksonville

Construction is underway on BCDC BrightPointe Jacksonville LLC's Clarity Pointe memory care center. The 60-bed, 44,899-square-foot center is being developed on 3.43 acres off East Baymeadows Road.



For more information: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=541234





7. BurgerFi/Vision Works

Rimrock Devlin is in the process of building a $950,000, 7,500 square foot retail building at the Markets at Town Center shopping center. The development's tenants will include Vision Works and BurgerFi. BurgerFi is a South Florida-based upscale, all-natural burger chain that serves burgers, hot dogs, frozen treats and craft beer and wine. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.





For more information: https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2013/07/10/rimrock-development-to-open.html



8. Borland-Groover Clinic Administration Building

An expansion project is underway at the Borland-Groover Clinic in Southpoint. When complete, a 12,500-square-foot administrative building and seven parking spaces will be added adjacent to the clinic's existing facility near the intersection of J. Turner Butler Boulevard and Belfort Road.










9. Gandolfo's New York Delicatessen








10. Another Broken Egg

Another Broken Egg Cafe is nearing completion a new restaurant in Tapestry Park.  The Miramar Beach-based breakfast-lunch chain should open this fall.





For more information: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=543281




11. University of North Florida Parking Garage

The University of North Florida's Osprey Clubhouse is now complete. Construction is now underway on a parking garage in the parking lot adjacent to the clubhouse.







12.Markets at Town Center Expansion

A new retail building for Verizon is being constructed in the parking lot of Markets at Town Center, adjacent to Moxie.




Development update by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com