Durbin Park: NE Florida's Next Retail Mecca Takes Shape

[jaxjags]

With the retail market crashing and burning right now, can our local market support another huge shopping center?

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/

TL;DR warning:

Not sure I buy the whole thing they wrote. Here are their three reasons:

1. People are simply buying more stuff online than they used to.

Completely agree, and undisputed.

2. America built way too many malls.

I do agree with this to a point, but mostly this statement is restating #1. People still are buying things; they just aren't buying them from malls. I do think that the move back to cities as compared to the 1970's and 1980's is contributing. Malls are suburban (mostly) and urban dwellers do tend to shop local. Local stores aren't usually the ones you find in malls, save for some instances in New York/LA.

3. Americans are shifting their spending from materialism to meals out with friends.

Don't agree with this argument. I'm not arguing the data they present, but I do argue the conclusions they draw from it. Obviously Food and Drink spending is up - that's clear. However, I think that it's a stretch to say people aren't spending money on non-food and drink. What I think may be in play is average retail prices - I don't believe they've risen across the board as quickly as total spend. Through the internet, I believe the shopper is more savvy than in any time in history. It's much easier today when you can comparison shop. Best Buy has recovered to a degree, but they were Amazon's showroom for a while - people could check prices online from their phone while shopping in a store - never in history has something like that happened.

I think retail is changed forever, but how? Not sure yet. This statement that they make - "One of the mistakes people make when thinking about the future is to think that they are watching the final act of the play." - couldn't be more true. Look at online startups like Warby Parker and Rent The Runway spinning up stores in major cities, and historic brick and mortar chains trying to monetize the whole omnichannel thing. It's as if they both believe the grass is greener on the other side. I think the conclusion is that is you want really green grass, you need a presence on both sides of the hill.

I do believe people are spending more on services - meals out, entertainment, vacations. I think this is being somewhat driven by aging baby boomers, of which I am one. There is only so much furniture, appliances, TVs, AV equipment, clothing, etc. that one can buy. Thus people my age do spend more on services such as dinning out. Also, I know many "older" people who do like to buy on line. No need to go out and it is delivered to your door. Not scientific, just an opinion.

[remc86007]

^ Don't forget the millennials who tend to enjoy living in more urban, smaller places, with less room for crap. Even modern interior design is much less cluttered.

[spuwho]

Durbin Park's first phase to open in early 2019

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=550033

by Karen Brune Mathis, Editor

Durbin Park in northern St. Johns County, which is set to rival St. Johns Town Center in retail size and scope, will start "going vertical" with its first phase early next year.
Developer Frank Gatlin III said Monday that site work is underway at the 80-acre Pavilion at Durbin Park. Stores should open starting in the first quarter of 2019.

Jacksonville-based Gate Petroleum Co. is developing the 1,600-acre Durbin Park west of Interstate 95 and south of Race Track Road.

Gatlin Development Co., also based in Jacksonville, is working with Gate in a joint venture to develop the commercial space.

The Pavilion is south of Race Track Road and west of Florida 9B.

Gate expects to open a convenience store and gas station, as well as a Gate Express Carwash, at the site in late 2018 or early 2019.

Wal-Mart Supercenter and The Home Depot are confirmed for the Pavilion, which is a 700,000-square-foot project with an estimated investment of $150 million.

Gatlin, CEO of Gatlin Development, said negotiations could be completed soon for other tenants, including several junior anchor stores.

Gatlin said his group was in active negotiations to bring the first phase of the development to 90 percent occupancy.

The second phase is where the previously announced Bass Pro Shops will locate, pending negotiations, he said.

Gatlin said he also was talking with movie theaters "and a whole entertainment cluster" and other tenants for that phase.

He said he would be speaking with the iFLY indoor parachuting center for the second phase. The entertainment venue also is considering a site near Topgolf at St. Johns Town Center, but has not confirmed a Northeast Florida location.

A 150,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops is planned for the second phase. It announced in 2012 it would open a Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World there by mid-2014, but that was delayed.

The Shopping Center Group will be the leasing agent for the retail space.

Durbin Park is designed for about 2.4 million square feet of retail space, 2.8 million square feet of office space, 999 multifamily housing units and about 350 hotel rooms.

The total retail space is almost twice the size of St. Johns Town Center.

Of the 1,600 acres, about 600 could be developed for building sites. The remainder is lake, wetlands, road right-of-way and green space.


Pet Supermarket, restaurants coming to Collins Plaza

Gatlin Development Co. is completing 40,000 square feet of retail space among four buildings at southwest Interstate 295 and Collins Road.

Pet Supermarket, with six Northeast Florida locations, is among the signed tenants. It has three more stores planned around Jacksonville.

Collins Plaza is anchored by Wal-Mart Supercenter, which is open.

A Gate Petroleum Co. gas station and convenience store opened there and a Gate Express Carwash should break ground soon next to it.

CEO Frank Gatlin III said Monday that the retail buildings are filling up.

Along with Pet Supermarket, confirmed tenants include Jersey Mike's Subs, Salsas Mexican Restaurant, Pet Angels Animal Hospital, AT&T, China Kitchen, Coco's Beauty Supply, Great Clips, Fancy Sushi, MetroPCS and Lee Nails & Spa.

The retail space is 75 percent leased.

Gatlin said his group is negotiating with retailers for the remaining 10,000 square feet and he hopes to be 100 percent signed in 90 days.

Two of the buildings are completed and tenants are moving in. Gatlin expects to break ground on the other two buildings within two weeks and be completed by year-end.

Gatlin Development bought the nearly 44-acre Collins Plaza in December 2014 and sold about 16 acres for development of the Wal-Mart Supercenter.

[lastdaysoffla]

WOOOOOOO!!

/s

[Jim]

Durbin Park is designed for about 2.4 million square feet of retail space, 2.8 million square feet of office space, 999 multifamily housing units and about 350 hotel rooms.

The total retail space is almost twice the size of St. Johns Town Center.

999 multifamily housing units and 350 hotel rooms would match or exceed SJTC, twice as much retail space as SJTC and the 2.8 million sq feet of office space almost 100% more than SJTC....it's going to be a lot bigger than I was expecting.

[thelakelander]

Perhaps this is a bit of funny math. Durbin Park is an entire development. It's sort of like adding the numbers up of several development projects like SJCT, IKEA, Florida Blue, Tinseltown, etc. and calling them a single development known as Gate Parkway. On the other hand, SJTC is a single shopping center. The shopping centers immediately across the street would not be included in SJTC's retail square footage. My guess is if you took Durbin Park's land area and placed it over SJTC and added up the numbers with every development within that equal amount of land area, SJTC's numbers would be much larger than Durbin Park's.

[KenFSU]

Look out!

Durbin Park signed Walmart, Home Depot, Verizon, Chase, AND a Gate gas station.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/stores-restaurants-lined-up-for-durbin-park-in-st-johns

Town Center's days are numbered.

[thelakelander]

The first phase is a strip mall. It would be comparable to the shopping centers surrounding SJTC. Their comparable SJTC phase is supposed to be developed on the other side of 9B at a later date. With that said, I think their Keke's will be that chain's first location in NE Florida. Keke's is pretty popular in and around Orlando.

[marcuscnelson]

I live not too far from where this is going, and I see post after post on Nextdoor of people complaining about the tenants, and yet that's all they do. Wring their hands and say this is terrible, but refuse to do anything else about it. And now it turns out the permit was awarded last week. They had until last week to do something, but decided to complain until it was too late.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Walmart, but it beats having to drive to Avenues Walk or San Jose. There's plenty of room in Phases 2 and 3 for the high-end center. Maybe have Simon handle that instead of Gatlin or TSCG or whoever else.

[thelakelander]

Most of this seems like old news. It was announced a year ago that Walmart and Home Depot were going to anchors in Durbin Park's strip mall.

https://www.moderncities.com/article/2017-feb-durbin-park-ne-floridas-next-retail-mecca-takes-shape

They'll pack those places out when they open. Seriously, what else were people expecting? They are Walmart and Home Depot's demographic.

[marcuscnelson]

Most of this seems like old news. It was announced a year ago that Walmart and Home Depot were going to anchors in Durbin Park's strip mall.

https://www.moderncities.com/article/2017-feb-durbin-park-ne-floridas-next-retail-mecca-takes-shape

They'll pack those places out when they open. Seriously, what else were people expecting? They are Walmart and Home Depot's demographic.

And a year ago was when they started complaining, and nothing else.

The thing is, none of us want to admit we're that demographic. We all know that we go to Walmart for the rock-bottom prices, but rather than accept it we act like we're too good for it and treat it as a bane on our society.

[marcuscnelson]

Update from the St. Augustine Record:

http://www.staugustine.com/news/20180210/this-is-another-city

[KenFSU]

^Interesting comment posted under that article questioning where the workforce for such a huge development is going to come from, when there's virtually no rental property or sub $250k housing within 20 minutes of the development.

[thelakelander]

That's not true. There's thousands of rental units in Bartram Park and Flagler Center. A couple of hundred units are under construction currently. Although on the Jax side of the county line, these developments are closer to Durbin Park than most of the CR 210 developments.

[Elwood]

Agreed. You might want to look at what has been built on Bartram Park Blvd. between Old St. Augustine Rd. and Race Track Rd. over the last 10 years.... Plenty of housing in the range you described as non-existent, within 5 minutes, let alone 20.