Special to the Recorder
“I wonder what’s going on there?” might be a familiar refrain going through people’s minds as they drive around Nocatee these days. That’s because everywhere they look it seems like workers are clearing a new piece of land or putting up a new building or both.
A prominent example of this is at the southeast corner of Crosswater Parkway and Nocatee Parkway. There, on about 14 acres of prime real estate, construction workers have been hard at work during the past few weeks putting up several large buildings.
“We love developing in the Nocatee community and plan to continue providing new retail to the residents as long as there are opportunities and the demand is there,” said Riley Skinner, vice president of Skinner Brothers Realty. Together with the PARC Group, Skinner Brothers is developing the land that will have the Greenwise organic grocery market as its center-piece.
“As the developer, we attempt to understand what the holes are in the retail market, listen to what the residents want and then analyze whether those uses will be successful for the long-term in Nocatee,” Skinner said. For this round of construction, that means businesses like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, First Watch Daytime Café and Really Good Beer Stop will be up and running by sometime this summer in Nocatee. They’ll join Clean Juice, Makk Fashions, Sherwin Williams and Ecowise Cleaners in the same phase.
“Being in partnership with the PARC Group has been seamless from day one. They do a fantastic job of gauging the pulse of the resident ‘wants’ through surveys and social media, which helps us collect the data we need to evaluate our new tenant prospects” Skinner said. “We’ve really enjoyed our involvement in the Nocatee Town Center, bringing retailers to the community and seeing it grow. We are excited to watch the future phases come to life as we strive to bring a more walkable, communal feeling to the Nocatee Town Center.”
Skinner said more businesses are lining up to help them achieve that goal, and that Skinner Brothers is already designing the next buildings for the property. “We still have a ton of interest from additional retailers that, if the market stays attractive, we plan to continue our development as fast as we can,” he said. “I think the residents will like it.”
Although Skinner won’t share who these additional retailers are at this time, he said the priority is to put in businesses that are a good mix of national credit tenants and locally-owned and operated businesses – like Clean Juice, Coastal Wine Market and Really Good Beer Stop which are all operated by Nocatee Residents.
“We found that those businesses that are owned by people who actually live in or around this community are some that do the best, because they truly understand and engage the community in a successful way,” he said.
Skinner added that the balance of nationally and locally-owned businesses is influenced by PARC Group surveys and resident feedback at the Nocatee Welcome Center. “It filters down to us, I promise you, in one way, shape or form.”
