Anyone have an update on this? There is now a construction fence around the entire perimeter (around the Zaxby's) of this property and the adjacent closed 5/3 Bank building. I assume the bank property has been acquired to increase the development potential of the Kmart property.
Are they demolishing both buildings? Is a big box store (Home Depot?) a candidate? Or, another apartment complex? Last thing Mandarin needs is another strip center. Lots of vacant storefronts in the existing ones.
As per above, I have long speculated that this site is ripe for Home Depot. There is no HD within a reasonable range of Mandarin, the closest being a poorly accessible store on Southside Blvd. and not a very big one at that. Meanwhile, Lowes has two stores serving Mandarin, at Baymeadows & Philips Highway and at I-295 and St. Augustine Road. That tells you all you need to know about what HD has been missing out on.
Too add, this HD will draw people from the Southbank, San Marco, Miramar, Lakewood and over to Phillips Highway via Baymeadows and Sunbeam Roads. Plus all the St. Johns County traffic that passes by on the way to and from Downtown. It may even pull from nearby I-295 given there are no HD's along that route in that quadrant of the City.
Not only is the Kmart the last reasonably available site in Mandarin to host a HD, but it is at the prime junction of San Jose and St. Augustine Road, the major arteries serving the heart of Mandarin.
The only question is why HD waited so long to pursue this spot

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