Businesses flee Regency Square Mall without AC

[fsu813]

Fyi - September 30th

"Join OAI for our next meeting on Tuesday, September 30, from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at Jacksonville University Gooding Auditorium. We are excited to welcome Rurmell Mcgee, president of Blackwater Development, the new owner of the Nexus at Regency. Rurmell will share his journey in acquiring the Regency Square Mall property and his vision for its revitalization, once Jacksonville's epicenter for shopping, dining, entertainment and social connection."

[Zac T]

If I had to guess, that JCPenney store will end up being renovated into a self storage space, just like the old JCPenney store at Gateway.  A stick frame apartment will probably materialize at some point on the site of the East Mall.

This is becoming really common for these old retail buildings surrounded by parking.  The old Sears in Melbourne was recently converted to self storage and they filled the parking lots with stick built apartments.

Unrelated to Regency, but I'm super curious to see what the next evolution of the nearly abandoned Borders, Bed Bath & Beyond, Bye Bye Baby megaplaza on Southside near the Avenues becomes. It's been largely vacated for a while now.

It appears H Mart is interested in taking over Timberlin Village. Another entry into Jax's booming Asian grocery sector. Lotte Plaza, RD International Market, Enson Market, and Patel Brothers all open or planning expansions here

Expanding Korean-American supermarket chain H Mart could to be preparing for an entry into Jacksonville.

An LLC linked to the chain bought the Timberlin Village shopping center at 8801 Southside Blvd. on Dec. 8 for $13.25 million.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/dec/12/asian-grocery-chain-h-mart-appears-to-be-looking-at-jacksonville/

[jaxoNOLE]

It seems that Regency Square Mall's redevelopment is headed nowhere fast. On top of the previously underwhelming plans we have heard about, it now looks like it may be entangled in litigation for the foreseeable future:

According to previous reporting by our news partners at the Jacksonville Daily Record, Impact Church claims it had an agreement with McGee in 2024 for real estate sales services related to the $19.1 million mall purchase.

The church says it provided a $101,000 down payment and covered due diligence costs, but McGee and Blackwater closed on the mall in April 2025 without the church's knowledge or consent.

Impact also contends that McGee breached their agreement and demands that the court recognize Mustard Tree LLC, a company formed by Impact and McGee, as the rightful owner.

Blackwater and McGee deny the allegations, calling the lawsuits meritless and accusing Impact Church of trying to "greenmail" the developers for financial gain.

The dispute also involves claims that Blackwater breached agreements by increasing maintenance fees, cutting services like trash removal and security, and charging retroactive electricity fees to Impact Church.

Impact Church is seeking court injunctions to prevent Blackwater from cutting off electricity and starting construction without church approval.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2026/02/11/impact-church-releases-statement-in-wake-of-lawsuit-against-jacksonvilles-regency-square-mall/

The link in the article to Impact Jax's public statement also indicates they were involved in the discussions to potentially bring the soccer stadium to the site as part of a larger development.

However this shakes out, it stands to reason the blight of the abandoned mall will be with us for quite a while longer.

[Charles Hunter]

Interestingly, yesterday's (Feb 11) Jacksonville Business Journal had an article about the developer getting COJ approval to carve 11 parcels from the parking lot. Even more interesting, the JBJ article does not mention the Impact Jax lawsuit, despite JBJ having reported on it previously.

Nexus at Regency project advances as developer wins approval to carve commercial outparcels from mall parking lot

Leah Foreman
By Leah Foreman – Reporter, Jacksonville Business Journal
Feb 11, 2026

Blackwater Development has cleared another hurdle in its sweeping overhaul of the long-troubled Regency Square Mall.

Civil plans for Nexus at Regency — the Lake City-based developer's reimagining of the 74-acre property at 9501 Arlington Expressway — were approved Feb. 11, according to city records. The approvals outline the creation of multiple commercial outparcels carved from the mall's expansive parking lot and call for the demolition of one section of the existing structure.
...
A service availability application filed with JEA in March 2025 outlined 11 proposed commercial outparcels within the existing parking lot, with roughly 1,400 feet of frontage along Atlantic Boulevard and additional frontage along Monument Road. The newly approved civil plans further define that vision, clearing the way for infrastructure work and site reconfiguration necessary to support the outparcels.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/02/11/developer-advances-plans-nexus-at-regency.html

[copperfiend]

What's delayed? The underwhelming strip mall? The inevitable generic apartment building? Will this impact the Circle K gas station?