The city issued a permit on May 20 for the $679,656 renovation of a floor space at The Pondry for speculative office suites.

Dav-Lin Interior Contractors of Jacksonville is the contractor for renovating almost 11,000 square feet of space on the 18,683-square-foot second floor of the eight-story building at 4920 San Pablo Road S. in South Jacksonville.

JLL Managing Director Michael Loftin said May 5 the project comprises speculative suites for lease as individual private suites directly from the landlord, and is not a shared-space concept.

JLL is handling the leasing on behalf of the landlord, Trevato Development Group of Jacksonville Beach.

Loftin said the suites will not be furnished, but will be fully built-out and finished “to a Class A standard and ready for tenants to install their furniture and occupy immediately.” 

“We are finding that a lot of smaller tenants don’t want to go through the build-out process and potentially be held accountable for build-out cost overages, so we will have a couple of ready-to-go suites to offer to the market,” he said.

Valerio Dewalt Train Associates of Chicago is the architect.

Trevato Development Group of Jacksonville Beach is the developer.

The 29.77-acre Allstate Campus office park, now called The Pondry, is at Butler Boulevard and San Pablo Road South.

Trevato bought the property for $20 million in 2024 from American Heritage Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate.

Trevato announced the deal on May 31, 2024, the same day it bought the property. It said the property comprised three buildings totaling 235,484 square feet of commercial space. 

Duval County property records show two of the buildings – eight floors and two floors – were developed in 1994, and the third – five floors – in 2001.

Trevato said the new Stellar Energy headquarters will anchor the eight-story building.

In one set of proposed redevelopment plans, Trevato said the eight-story and five-story connected office buildings, totaling 192,836 square feet, will remain. In contrast, the two-story building across the parking lot is being removed.

Apartments planned 

Trevato has changed its initial proposed redevelopment, which called for the addition of retail space, town homes, and condominiums on the site’s parking lot.

On Dec. 17, seven days after Jacksonville City Council rejected Trevato’s plan, the developer submitted plans for an apartment development under Florida’s Live Local Act. 

It received administrative approval from the city of Jacksonville to redevelop it with multifamily housing that includes affordable units.

Council had voted 17-2 to deny a rezoning request to redevelop the office park into residential, office and retail space. 

That vote came amid heavy opposition from neighbors of the property, who were concerned that the development would create significant traffic congestion and that the density of its residential component was incompatible with its surroundings, among other criticisms. 

Many of the opponents are homeowners in the Pablo Creek Reserve gated community adjacent to The Pondry.

During hearings before the Planning Commission and Council Land Use and Zoning Committee on the rezoning ordinance, Trevato lawyer Steve Diebenow, a partner with Jacksonville law firm Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, said Trevato met with neighbors and made significant changes to its original site plan based on concerns aired in those meetings.

Diebenow said April 14, the new plan for the property was developed based on input from residents at those meetings. 

“The neighbors encouraged our client to build what he could by right, and that’s what he’s working on,” Diebenow said.

Original Source Link: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/may/20/city-issues-permit-for-second-floor-spec-space-in-the-pondrys-eight-story-building/