Massive Project at Southeast Quadrant of I-295/Butler Will Connect Gate Pkwy. and Kernan Blvd.

With the numerous projects already announced in the past couple of years along Gate Pkwy., you’d think they would run out of space on the already-busy road.

As it turns out, the next giant project will involve making the winding parkway even longer.

This past Tuesday, plans were submitted by Sawmill Timber LLC – a Skinner family company – to the St. Johns River Water Management District for the development of a giant chunk of land the family still owns from their days in the dairy business.

The plans show a mix of retail, residential, and unidentified buildings covering hundreds of acres of undeveloped space along I-295 and Butler – diagonal to the St. Johns Town Center, which was once undeveloped Skinner-owned land as well.

The retail portion shows three “major anchors” as well as a small shopping strip and several outparcel lots. The residential portion appears to be made up of several single-family home developments. There would also be a portion of wetlands conserved and at least one large retention pond.

Most interestingly, the project – which will presumably have to be completed in several phases – will result in the ability for traffic to flow straight through from Gate Pkwy. to Kernan Blvd., and vice versa.

It’ll eliminate two dead-ends that currently exist: the one at Kernan Blvd.’s southernmost point where it intersects with Butler, and the one where Gate Pkwy. and Baymeadows Rd. dead-end into each other. And it will create somewhat of a loop around the I-295/Butler interchange, made up by portions of Gate Pkwy., Kernan Blvd., Town Center Pkwy., and UNF’s campus.

The plan will likely take several years – and phases – to be fully realized. But when it does, it’ll bring even more activity to a part of town that’s already red-hot with new development.