East San Marco Development, and A Shiny New Publix, Gets the Green Light, Again.

East San Marco Development Jacksonville FL - Aerial View

 

The on-again, off-again plans for the new East San Marco urban infill development is on again. Residents of San Marco are almost universally cheering plans to build an apartment and retail development at the corner of Hendricks Avenue and Atlantic Boulevard. And it’s not just because there’s currently no grocery store within more than a mile of one of the hottest destinations for home buyers, shoppers and diners.

East San Marco will include 240 apartments, 35 townhouses, 14,000 square feet of small boutique shop and the long-anticipated Publix Super Markets Inc.  It’s the “urban store” format that Publix builds in more congested areas, as opposed to the more sprawling footprint of one of the suburban stores
 

East San Marco Development - Jacksonville FL

 

Of course, there are always concerns about the traffic this San Marco development would bring to surrounding neighborhoods, but residents who have voiced these concerns aren’t going to let this be the showstopper. This sort of “infill” development — building on vacant lots close to existing development — actually serves to reduce the sprawl that often defines Jacksonville and much of North Florida.

Whitehall Realty Partners is under contract to acquire the land from Regency Centers Corp. and St. Joe Co., which formed a joint venture partnership to pursue the project as a condominium development in 2007. The project has remained largely dormant as the economy and real estate activity waned between 2007 and 2012.