Building Up Jax, 8/6: New Apple store, Springfield brewery

Apple is moving down the street from its current Town Center spot, and Springfield is getting another project in the form of yet another Jacksonville brewery.

Apple moves (and expands)

A few different sources reported this week that Apple will be constructing a new store down the street from its current location in the St. Johns Town Center. It’s expected to be twice the size of its current spot.

The new store will be located at 4835 River City Drive, site of the former Forever 21 store. It will share that structure with Tesla Motors, which is also relocating from just down the street.

The store is expected to be designed similarly to other recently-built Apple locations. This suggests it will have expanded showroom areas and more display areas for third-party products like speakers.

It will be a welcomed change given how over-crowded the current store routinely gets. The new location is expected to also have expanded Genius presence, making wait times for support and payment shorter as well.

More good news for Springfield

The Springfield area has yet another new project to look forward to – this time in the form of yet another Jacksonville brewery.

Hyperion Brewing Company announced via their website that they will be leasing the property at 1740/1744 N. Main Street. They have reached a temporary agreement with landlord Petra Realty, pending a completed lease agreement, while they work on getting the property re-zoned as a PUD (Planned Unit Development).

According to owner Alexandra McKeown’s statement on Springfield Preservation and Revitalization’s website, the brewery plans to keep the outside façade as-is and only renovate the interior.

The project marks another in a recent line of Springfield developments, such as the Bono’s and Crispy’s projects previously noted here, giving hope that the area is on the verge of a major revitalization effort.

St. Vincent expands with health centers

According to Jax Daily Record, St. Vincent’s HealthCare plans to open three new “health centers” around the city within the next year.

The first center will be located at 10503 San Jose Blvd., in a former Walgreens location. The second one will be in St. Johns County along CR-210, and the third will be in North Jacksonville.

The centers will feature primary care, specialty care, and urgent care among other services. Each store will be around a $8.5 million investment.

Noted projects

• Jacksonville Humane Society was issued a permit for build-out of a $12,811,000 facility at 8464 Beach Blvd.
• Tijuana Flats plans to join Earth Fare and Petsmart at the soon-to-be-overhauled Mandarin South shopping center, according to Jax Daily Record.