Harris Teeter is set to return to Jacksonville, as city records show a site-clearing permit was issued Thursday for vacant land at the Atlantic North shopping center in East Arlington. The project will convert a grassy area between LA Fitness and Academy Sports + Outdoors into an active construction site, marking the first visible step before the supermarket and an adjacent liquor store begin construction and hiring.
According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, the city signed off on a permit for Hawkins Construction Inc. to clear nearly 1.5 acres at the northwest corner of Kernan and Atlantic boulevards, at 11901 Atlantic Blvd. The roughly $950,000 site-clearing job will prepare the building pad for what plans show as a 61,204-square-foot grocery store next to a 3,200-square-foot liquor store. Sleiman Enterprises, the Jacksonville-based landlord behind Atlantic North, plans to lease Unit 400 to Harris Teeter.
Harris Teeter has said it expects to start construction in spring 2026 and will hire about 100 to 200 employees, according to reporting by the Florida Times-Union. Permit filings and plans show a full grocery lineup with a pharmacy that includes a drive-thru pickup window, a wine and beer bar, a Starbucks coffee shop and Harris Teeter Pick Up service for online orders. Taken together, the size and amenities put this store at the more full service, upscale end of the already crowded grocery field along the Atlantic Boulevard corridor.
What the site-clearing work will involve
Before any walls go up, Hawkins Construction is tasked with reshaping the ground. The company’s contract calls for modifying the parking lot layout, tearing out existing asphalt, regrading the pad and installing utility lines to serve the new buildings. The permit notes that all of this has to happen before vertical construction can begin in earnest.
Once the site is fully prepared, the developer plans to advance with separate building permits for the supermarket and the liquor store. Those original building permit applications are still under city review, with estimated construction costs listed at about $3 million for the grocery store and $1 million for the liquor store, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record.
Where this fits on the grocery map
The Atlantic North location will become only the second Harris Teeter in Northeast Florida, joining the existing store in Fernandina Beach. It also marks a formal return to the Jacksonville market after previous Harris Teeter locations in Mandarin and Ponte Vedra Beach closed in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Other potential sites about the size of a Harris Teeter in St. Johns County are also under review, and plans call for a fuel center just south of Atlantic Boulevard across from the shopping center, details previously outlined by the Florida Times-Union.
With site clearing approved and work set to begin in the coming weeks, neighbors can expect to see heavy equipment on the grass pad before any formal groundbreakings. No opening date has been announced, and both the developer and the grocer have confirmed only that construction is scheduled to start in spring 2026. Updates will follow as the project progresses from site work to building permits and eventually to hiring notices.
