TUESDAY October 29, 2019
Public legal notices begin on page 4
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
THE MATHIS REPORT
Daily Record
GROCERY STORES
City officials want Publix at Gateway to stay open
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Photo by Monty Zickuhr
Publix Super Markets Inc. plans to close its store at 5210 Norwood Ave. in Gateway Town Center on Dec. 28.
Council member who represents the area served by the grocery says he was “shocked” by the chain’s decision to close. BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
City officials want to work with Publix Super Markets Inc. to keep its store at Gateway Town Center open. In a statement Friday evening, Publix spokesman Dwaine Stevens said the Lakeland, Florida-based grocery store chain notified its associates and landlord it would not renew its lease and close Dec. 28. The store is at 5210 Norwood Ave., east
of Interstate 95, north of Springfield and Downtown. Stevens said there are two other Publix locations near the Gateway store. One is 6 miles north at 1840 Dunn Ave. and another is 5 miles south at 2033 Riverside Ave. District 7 City Council member Reggie Gaffney represents the neighborhoods served by the Gateway Publix. He said he was “shocked” when he was informed that Publix would leave the shopping center. A representative from Gateway owner Gator Investments LLC did not return two requests for comment Monday, but Gaffney said he’s received a commitment from Gateway officials to freeze Publix’s monthly rental rate. According to Gaffney, rent for Publix at SEE PUBLIX, PAGE 3
Tenants at Gateway Town Center include Subway, Family Dollar, Youfit and Wingstop.
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
Load King expansion taking steps
Manufacturing company wants to add 100,000 square feet of space in Rail Yard District.
Load King Manufacturing Co. wants to move forward with an expansion that could add 100,000 square feet of distribution and manufacturing space. Jacksonville-based Load King has contracted to buy land from the city for the project next to its Rail Yard District headquarters and manufacturing plant west of Downtown. The Rogers Towers law firm asked JEA, the city’s utility, to determine the availability of service at 1357 W. Beaver St., Load King’s facility, for an addition of 100,000 square feet of light manufacturing space. Load King owns 8.26 acres at that address. Records show about 204,000 square feet of manufacturing and distribution space in four buildings constructed since 1919. Load King designs, fabricates, delivers and installs retail store, supermarket and restaurant interiors, equipment and fixtures throughout the United States. Rogers Towers also applied to the Jacksonville Planning and Development Department to rezone 0.89 acres at 1314 W. SEE MATHIS, PAGE 3
RF-Smart building-out at San Marco East Plaza The city issued a permit Friday for Tenant Contractors Inc. to build-out office space for RF-Smart at San Marco East Plaza at a cost of $1.28 million. RF-Smart, a Jacksonville-based global software company, will build-out 40,552 square feet of space it agreed to lease at 3563 Philips Highway, No. 601. RF-Smart provides barcoding, radio-frequency identification and warehouse intelligence to distributors, manufacturers and retailers worldwide. San Marco East Plaza is the rebranded Metro Square office park.
VOLUME 106, NO. 243 • ONE SECTION