WEST BAY, FLA. — The St. Joe Company has commenced development of its proposed VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre in West Bay. Construction will begin later this year for an approximately 50,000-square-foot, Class A, multi-tenant office building. In addition, upon the building's completion in summer 2011. St. Joe will relocate its corporate headquarters from Jacksonville, Fla., to the VentureCrossings building.
The developer will do so to give itself a central location to oversee the development of VentureCrossings. The master-planned project encompasses 1,000 acres, which will be used for a variety of property types. Approximately 100 acres will be set aside for retail, office and hotel projects, and approximately 300 acres will be for light industrial uses. The final 600 acres will take advantage of the park's prime location immediately adjacent to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport to provide tenants with manufacturing, distribution and logistics space within sight of the new airport's runway.
“VentureCrossings is an unparalleled greenfield site and a unique multi-modal opportunity for expanding businesses interested in air, land and sea access,” said Kevin Johnson, vice president of economic development for St. Joe. “Because of our region's strong military presence and transportation assets, West Bay is an ideal growth area for industries including aerospace, defense, renewable energy and logistics.”
CB Richard Ellis has been selected to lease the project.
VentureCrossings and the new airport are part of the West Bay Sector Plan, which seeks to develop a 75,000-acre into a combination of residential, commercial and municipal uses in the coming years. St. Joe itself donated 4,000 of those acres for the construction of the new airport, which is expected to be complete in May. At full build-out, which is expected to take the next 50 years, the area can accommodate as much as 37 million square feet of commercial space and 27,000 residences. Approximately 39,000 acres of the plan are being set aside for environmental conservation.
— Coleman Wood
For more detailed information about the West Bay Sector Plan, please read this past story from Southeast Real Estate Business.