GreenWise near World Golf Village taking steps

Work continues toward development of a GreenWise Market natural foods grocer at World Commerce Center in St. Johns County.

GreenWise is Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc.’s concept developed to compete in the natural foods category. It offers organic, specialty and traditional grocery items.

The grocery is part of a proposed shopping center west of Interstate 95, south of International Golf Parkway and north of Florida 16.

The property is owned by World Commerce Center LLP and Steinemann Development Company – Florida Inc. 

The owners are seeking a minor modification to the planned unit development on 16.6 acres along International Golf Parkway.

They also are requesting a modification that would include a waiver to allow a grocery store and small restaurants within the shopping center parcel to serve beer and wine for on-premise consumption within 1,000 feet of a church or school; to prohibit bars, lounges, nightclubs and dance halls in the parcel; to allow a wall sign on the side or rear of the store; and to include a master development plan for the parcel.

A master development plan shows a 25,147-square-foot grocery store, identified as a GreenWise, flanked by two 7,000-square-foot retail buildings.

There also are six outparcels of 0.72 to 2.16 acres. The total square footage for the buildings on the parcel is 111,350 square feet.

As previously reported, Publix wants to anchor the Shoppes at World Commerce Center, according to documents filed with the St. Johns County Growth Management Department.

Cantrell & Morgan Inc. of Jacksonville and Stiles Corp. of Fort Lauderdale are the developers.

The Cantrell & Morgan commercial real estate company includes a flyer for Shoppes at World Commerce Center on its website.

The GreenWise would be built across Florida 16 from a full-size Publix at Shoppes at Murabella, also a Stiles project. The competitive move keeps sales within the company and discourages other grocery stores from the immediate area. 

England-Thims & Miller Inc. is the civil engineer. The Rogers Towers law firm is the applicant and representative.

It is the second GreenWise market planned in St. Johns County. The first was announced for Nocatee. That one also is near a full-size Publix.

GreenWise stores feature a beverage bar of kombucha, locally roasted coffee, wine, local beer and smoothies.

Plans show a café area.

The stores sell meats raised without antibiotics or added hormones; “sustainably sourced” seafood; sausage made in the store; and other foods and produce focused on healthy living.

 The first GreenWise Market opened Oct. 4 in Tallahassee.

Four stores are scheduled to open this year in Lakeland and Boca Raton and in Mountain Brook, Alabama, and, on May 23, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Opening dates have not been announced for five stores in Nocatee, Fort Lauderdale, Odessa and in Marietta, Georgia, and Lexington, South Carolina.

In February, Publix said its first Northeast Florida GreenWise market would open in Nocatee Town Center in 2020.

Publix had three GreenWise stores about a decade ago but revamped the concept.

The World Commerce Center planned unit development, led by Jacksonville-based Steinemann & Co., comprises almost 1,000 acres for housing, light industrial, retail and office space. It is anchored by Ring Power and Rulon International.

World Commerce Center is south of the parkway from World Golf Village. 

The 104-pump Texas-based Buc-ee’s gas station and convenience store is planned at the corner of the parkway and I-95.

By: Karen Brune Mathis
From: Jaxdailyrecord