Author Topic: Costco to build gas station at Town Center  (Read 11521 times)

SirJax

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Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« on: April 20, 2024, 08:02:22 AM »
Jax Daily Record is reporting Costco has made a request to the St. Johns River Water Management District for a minor permit modification to allow it to construct a gas station at its St. Johns Town Center location. It will have 24 fueling stations.

The gas station will be built in the northeast corner of its existing parking lot (next to REI’s kayak launch).

This is one of few Costco locations I have visited that do not have a gas station onsite. The store opened in November 2000 and was one of the first retailers in what would become the retail epicenter of NE Florida. Until the opening of the West Jacksonville location it was the Costco location with the most members associated to it in the Southeast US (which explains why Costco opened two more area locations in the past few years).

Link: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2024/apr/19/costco-wholesale-proposes-adding-members-only-gas-station-at-town-center/

Ken_FSU

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2024, 12:46:13 AM »
Looking forward to Glenn's review on this.

SirJax

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2025, 06:09:27 PM »
Just wanted to give a quick update on this topic after talking to someone at Costco about it…

Costco is still planning on building the gas station. However, they are concerned about the amount of traffic it might generate and as such are also exploring the possibility of a nearby, but offsite location. As mentioned earlier, prior to the relatively recent additions of the West Jax and World Golf Village locations, the Town Center location was the busiest Costco in the Southeast. Now it’s “just” the busiest location in the state of Florida. Anyway, the amount of traffic congestion nearby the store is already extremely high sometimes and having the gas station right there could make things even more challenging - and they want to ensure a good member experience.

It sounds like they have a 25-year exclusivity agreement that forbids them from building a gas station at/near the Town Center location. They didn’t specify who the opposing party to the agreement is but my sense is that it’s Gate Petroleum (i.e., the Peytons… although I believe the land the store was built on was acquired from the Skinners). The agreement expires in June and they are hoping to make a final decision on the gas station location by then.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2025, 06:11:19 PM by SirJax »

jcjohnpaint

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2025, 07:23:17 PM »
That Costco is a hot mess. We only go to the orange park one now.

acme54321

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2025, 08:07:22 PM »
They're concerned about the traffic?  YA DONT SAY?  The traffic at that place is a shit show on a Tuesday morning at 10am without a gas station.

jaxlongtimer

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2025, 08:48:35 PM »
I've been to other Costco's where the gas was a block or two away.  If I were them, I would cut a deal with Ikea and put it on their property.  It's a great spot right off of I-295 with lots of land and has far less traffic than around Costco.  I am sure Ikea would appreciate the extra traffic it might bring their way.  They might even pay Costco to put it there or at least give them the real estate to use at little or no cost.  A win-win.

(I know they both sell furniture but I doubt the overlap is so great that they would really care about that.)

If that doesn't work, they should talk to the FBI about their property... free gas for the Feds to do it.  LOL.

Josh

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2025, 09:58:24 AM »
If a big part of the pricing structure of Costco gas is to drive customers to the store after filling up, then it probably doesn't make much sense for the pumps to be too far from the warehouse.

marcuscnelson

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2025, 11:08:29 AM »
A block or two away is one thing, two and a half miles away is another. Town Center is infilled enough that I'm not sure how many options they really have in terms of where to site a station if off-property. Bit of a shame they didn't plan for this sooner when there were more options.
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thelakelander

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2025, 11:55:25 AM »
I went to that Costco once and regretted it, as soon as I got a block away. Never seen a place that busy on a random weekday morning.  It's easier getting in and out of the Costco next to Bass Pro and Buc-ee's in WGV.
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jaxlongtimer

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2025, 12:24:23 PM »
If a big part of the pricing structure of Costco gas is to drive customers to the store after filling up, then it probably doesn't make much sense for the pumps to be too far from the warehouse.

While my Ikea suggestion was a tongue in cheek suggestion, the reality is there are not a lot of options nearer to that Costco and if there were any, the cost of the real estate might not justify the expense for a bunch of likely money losing gas pumps that are just to draw people in. 

Given most Costco customers probably come from a 10 mile radius and you can only use the pumps if you are a Costco member, anyone driving to that general area is likely to visit Costco even if the pumps are a mile or two away at that point.  I would imagine a big portion of their customers arrive via I-295 (or could do JTB to I-295) so exiting Ikea is not a big deal and Gate Parkway goes straight to Costco from there.  Importantly, a 1,000 extra visitors to Ikea's property may be a drop in the bucket for that property.

Looking at an aerial, the very best option would be to buy out the Daily's station in front.  This not only would give them a ready made setup for the pumps but might create an opportunity to redesign their entry point from Gate Parkway which is desperately needed.  If they did build out a gas facility on the Costco property it could put the Daily's in a very bad situation so maybe Daily's would then rather sell vs. fail to compete.  Interestingly, there is also a second Daily's only 1,500 feet away to the south on the other side of the JTA interchange thus the stations may be cannibalizing each other's business and it may not hurt Daily's at all to give one up.

It really comes down to what options do they really have to locate a somewhat large pump facility that will generate a 1,000 visits a day or more.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2025, 04:06:21 PM by jaxlongtimer »

Jagsdrew

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2025, 03:42:48 PM »
Costco should build their gas station next to the new Daily's gas station downtown!  ;)
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Zac T

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #11 on: January 15, 2025, 06:38:50 PM »
I'd imagine if this Costco is consistently this congested, there is a market for another in Jax. Maybe Regency since it's being redeveloped or somewhere on the Northside near River City

fsu813

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #12 on: January 15, 2025, 08:03:38 PM »
This Costco probably hosts the most diverse concentration of nationalities/ethnicities in Jacksonville, outside of World of Nations. I haven't experienced another retail space that attracts that level of cultural diversity in Jax.

jaxlongtimer

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #13 on: January 15, 2025, 09:05:10 PM »
I'd imagine if this Costco is consistently this congested, there is a market for another in Jax. Maybe Regency since it's being redeveloped or somewhere on the Northside near River City

The existing Costco's in Jax, as the crow flies, are between 12 and 24 miles apart.  Per Google Maps, Regency is only about 5.5 miles from Town Center.  The best bet is near the airport at about 17 miles but I would guess the mostly likely spot would be around Wildlight in Nassau County at the 200/A1A interchange with I-95.  This would not only serve the Duval northside, Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach and Nassau County, generally, but also south Georgia up to Brunswick/St. Simons.

Costco is a destination store, they don't need to be on every corner.  They likely have a formula for population, income, and geography that puts them in middle class plus income areas, at or near interstate interchanges and with a minimum current or soon-to-be population within a given radius, likely at least 10 miles or so, by roads.

I have been to numerous Costco's during travels and all of them seem to fit most or all of the above formula.

Pottsburg

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Re: Costco to build gas station at Town Center
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2025, 02:07:15 AM »
Putting one on the northside or Yulee would alleviate a lot of the South Georgia foot traffic that the Southside store gets. Stuart is the next Florida one in the pipeline (April) but north Jax would be a great addition to the city. I’m surprised Gainesville hasn’t gotten one yet.
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