Building Up Jax, 9/10: Brooklyn GATE is official, Walgreens concept coming to Springfield

This week in Jacksonville development news: the much-debated proposed GATE station at the corner of Park St. and Forest St. will begin construction next year. Also, Walgreens is bringing its neighborhood pharmacy concept to Springfield, plus several other projects noted in this week’s edition of “Building Up Jax”.

Brooklyn GATE moves forward

The feud over bringing a GATE station to Brooklyn is finally over.

The convenience store and gas station will begin construction at the start of next year. It will go in at the corner of Park St. and Forest St. The company closed on its purchase of the land this past week.

Much like GATE’s pending Atlantic Beach station, the Brooklyn location was the subject of quite a bit of complaints from its neighbors. Unlike the Atlantic Beach situation, however, it wasn’t unreasonable protests holding the project up but rather valid concerns. The community wanted to see the design changed to fit the urban atmosphere better, including moving the storefront to Park St. rather than along Chelsea St. as is the plan. GATE argued that trying to make that design work would end up putting pedestrians in danger rather than helping them.

The project ended up gaining full approval without any significant changes. While the design may not be ideal, the location certainly is; the GATE station will service the Brooklyn area, where the nearest gas station is currently over on Post St. in the form of a tiny Shell station.

The land was previously home to restaurant Two Doors Down. Its building will presumably be demolished in the near future.

Community Walgreens to Springfield

Walgreens announced this past week that they will be opening a location in Springfield at 1801 N. Main St.

The store won’t be a typical Walgreens – it will be under the “Community – A Walgreens Pharmacy” banner. This relatively-new concept store is much smaller than the average Walgreens, and focuses more on the delivery of medication and one-on-one interactions with pharmacists for patients with complicated treatment regimens.

It will join several other pending projects in the Springfield area, including a restaurant/bar concept from the owners of Bono’s Bar-B-Q. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Stay tuned for a more in-depth article from us on Springfield and its pending developments.)

Noted projects

• Coworking concept space Level Office Jax held a grand opening ceremony this past Thursday for its location at 25 N. Market St.
• Cowford Chophouse was issued a permit for its $6.4 million interior buildout, with Danis Construction LLC in charge of the job.
• A bit of un-development news: ITT Tech‘s parent company announced that the school would cease operations at all locations, including their Jacksonville campus at 7011 A.C. Skinner Parkway.
• Food truck 5Loaves 2Fish will open its first brick-and-mortar location in Ameris Bank Tower, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal.
• Grabbagreen, a restaurant and juice/”elixir” bar, will open in Brooklyn Station next to Burrito Gallery this fall according to The Florida Times-Union. This will leave the busy center with just one remaining vacant retail spot.
• A massive $60 million business park, Powers Bay Business Center, is being proposed for a large stretch of land on Philips Highway near Nocatee Parkway according to Jax Daily Record. At this point, the project will likely remain in the planning stages until the surrounding area is developed further, which can be expected in the coming years.
• Also via Jax Daily Record: Farah and Farah is moving their call center from the main offices at 10 W. Adams St. to the third floor of 100 N. Laura St., also owned by the Farahs and currently being renovated. Other future tenants include CenterState Bank and restaurant Black Sheep.

Send in your questions!

We always welcome reader questions about upcoming projects, or even questions about areas or pieces of land that you’re curious about. We’ll feature your question, and our answer, in the next week’s edition of Building Up Jax!

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