Southside Construction Update - January/February 2015

A brief look at the status of various projects under construction in and around Jacksonville's Edge City, the Southside, during the months of January and February 2015.
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


January/February 2015 Construction Update






1. Shoppes of Gate Parkway

An office building under construction, by Beemer & Associates XXXII LLC, is nearing completion. The building is located 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.

Jacksonville-based Vistakon is developing a $4.6 million solvent tank farm at it's disposable contact lenses manufacturing complex in Deerwood Park. the 8,640 square foot tank farm is expected to be completed in 2015.



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. Old Still

AV Homes, an Arizona-based development firm is building a 120 home single-family community called Old Still.  The 80-acre development is being built as an urban enclave featuring an urban park and homes lining the street in a pedestrian-scale setting. The project is located just east of I-295 Beltway, along East Baymeadows Road.








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 continues 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. 7111 Bonneval Road

7111 Bonneval Road is being renovated. Current tenants in the retail building include the Corner Bakery Cafe and Edwin Watts Golf Superstore.






8. Borland-Groover Clinic Administration Building

An expansion project continues 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. Galleria Club Apartments

Construction continues on the Galleria Club Apartments at I-295 East Beltway and East Baymeadows Road. When complete, the Galleria Club developmnt will add 254 apartment units to an area where several large multi-family developments have been built over the last couple of years.









10. 11526 Baymeadows Road East

East Gate Parkway LLC is in the process of constructing a commerical building at 11526 East Baymeadows Road.





11.  Loree Apartments

Land clearing efforts for a 300 unit apartment development are underway on 15 acres along A.C. Skinner Parkway.  Eventually, the $80 million development will cover 30 acres and include up to 600 units. The project is being developed by Eckstein Investments LLC. and will include bike paths and walking trails integrated with 100-year-old oak hammocks.






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