Repositioned Jax Retail Hits 100% Occupancy

MIAMI—St. Johns Town Center North is officially 100% occupied. Together with phase two of St. Johns Town Center and the Markets at Town Center, the centers make up Jacksonville's hottest regional shopping and dining destination.

It's been a long road to full occupancy, though. When The Shopping Center Group leasing agents Stephanie McCullough and Nancy Sumner secured the leasing assignment for St. Johns Town Center North in November 2011, the center was only 86% leased with base rents in the low $20s per square foot.  

“As of the end of April, we are 100% leased and have pushed rents to the upper $20s per square foot,” says Sumner. “Stephanie and I remerchandised this center to reflect a more traditional, grocery-anchored center complemented by service providers that create additional cross traffic between tenants.”

Penzeys Spices took up the last space in the retail center. Penzeys is headquartered in Wisconsin with 71 stores across the country. Both stores will both be open by fall 2013.

“Prior to the opening of this location, Penzeys already has a customer base of nearly 8,000 Jacksonville residents, which will help drive even more traffic to this center anchored by Publix and Total Wine & More,” says McCullough. “In order to accommodate the spice shop's 4,000-square foot storefront, we are relocating an existing tenant, The Great Frame Up, to an adjacent space and finalized its new lease for 1,600 square feet on April 30.”  

Publix and Total Wine anchor St. Johns Town Center North, the latter of which is patronized by customers from Daytona Beach up to Brunswick, Ga. with this being their only location in North Florida. Additional new tenants in the 113,000-square foot shopping center include: Seasons of Japan, a fast casual Japanese and sushi restaurant; The Loop Pizza Grill; Weight Watchers; MAPFRE Insurance and Sweet Frog, a premium frozen yogurt shop.  

Located at J. Turner Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295, St. Johns Town Center North is adjacent to St. Johns Town Center and the Markets at Town Center, a 1.6 million-square foot retail destination. The development is surrounded by 11.5 million square feet of office space employing more than 100,000 workers, which elevate both daytime population and traffic counts. The center is located less than a quarter mile from the entrance to the University of North Florida.