Walmart intends to open a new Supercenter in Southwest Jacksonville in spring 2016 and create 300 jobs.
The Jax Daily Record reports that Walmart Stores East LP bought property at Collins Road and Interstate 295 earlier this month from Gatlin Development Co. Inc., which also sold a site to Gate Petroleum Co.
Walmart spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg says construction, expected to begin in the spring, takes about a year.
Jacksonville-based Gate, on an expansion path, plans to build a 5,800-s.f. gas and convenience store that will include 20 fueling positions and a soft-cloth automatic car wash, according to Becky Hamilton, Gate’s VP of real estate.
She did not have a construction schedule because the developer needs to install infrastructure.
The Collins Road property was owned by Park City Farms LLC and Olsen Farms LLC, whose manager is real estate company Thomas Dumas Inc.
They sold the property, comprising 43.4 acres among six parcels, to Gatlin for $6.75 million.
Fort Lauderdale-based Gatlin, through GDC Collins LLC, sold a portion of the property to Walmart for $5.25 million. It also sold property to Gate for $2.25 million.
The sales were completed Dec. 11 and posted with the Duval County Clerk of Court last week.
The gatlindc.com site lists the Collins Plaza center as a 45-acre site and a future site of Walmart. Those plans also show six smaller retail buildings, including a gas station, on the property.
The new Walmart Supercenter, at 7075 Collins Road, is a $7.8 million construction project, according to a building permit issued in July for a 194,574-s.f. building.
Site plans filed with the city indicate the Collins project will comprise the Walmart, three flex-retail buildings totaling 29,700 s.f. and three outparcels of 1.3 to 2 acres.
Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, already has 15 area Supercenters.
Meanwhile, Gate also bought property south of Beach Boulevard, east of Discovery Way and west of San Pablo Road.
The company paid nearly $2.6 million for 2.2 acres, comprising two vacant commercial parcels.
Gate paid $1.6 million for 1.2 acres from Synovus Bank. It paid $975,000 for a little more than 1 acre from Soni Holdings Inc. Both deeds were signed and posted last week with the Duval County Clerk of Court.
Hamilton says it also would be a 5,800-s.f. facility that will include 20 fueling positions and a soft-cloth automatic car wash and would open in the second or third quarter of 2015.
Gate has been building and expanding stores and selling underperforming sites.
Among its newer stores are those near St. Johns Town Center; in East Baymeadows; a replacement store along Emerson Street; and at the World Commerce Center along International Golf Parkway in St. Johns County.
In addition to the Collins Road and Beach Boulevard site, new stores are slated for Philips Highway in Bayard; River City Marketplace in North Jacksonville; and northwest Blanding Boulevard and Filmore Street in Clay County.
It also is expanding its Busch Drive location in North Jacksonville, while it sold smaller stores in Arlington and Jacksonville Beach.
Gate owns and operates about 80 locations in the southeastern U.S.—Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and North and South Carolina—and also has about 200 dealer accounts.