The long-quiet, two-story former JCPenney at Gateway Town Center in Brentwood is getting another life, this time as a full-blown indoor self-storage hub. Developers are moving to finish the conversion by finally building out the long-closed second floor. The ground level is already operating as an Extra Space Storage site, and city records show a new permit application aimed at completing the upstairs work. Nearby pieces of the old enclosed mall are also lined up for demolition as the owner prepares to market fresh space for new retailers and affordable housing.
The city is reviewing a permit request from Global Jacksonville LLC to complete a 61,283-square-foot second floor at 5200 Norwood Ave., with an estimated project cost of about $1.72 million, according to Jax Daily Record. The filing names BG Southern Division LLC of Windermere as the contractor, Jarmel Kizel Architects of Livingston, New Jersey, as the architect, and Legacy Engineering of Jacksonville as the private plan reviewer. Plans call for partitions, new restrooms, elevators, HVAC, electrical systems and other interior work that will turn the upstairs into rentable storage units.
Who's building and who will run it
Global Building and its affiliate Global Storage Partners have described the overall project as a two-story, climate-controlled storage conversion of roughly 100,000 square feet and about 900 units, according to Inside Self Storage. The renovation lists BG Southern as the contractor, and Extra Space Storage already shows a Norwood Avenue facility at 5200 Norwood Ave. on its site. The developer has outlined a phased strategy: open the ground floor first, lease those units, then move on to finishing the second floor.
Demolition permits underway
On March 12, the city signed off on a demolition permit for ELEV8 Demolition to tear down a building behind the Extra Space property, and Global Jacksonville has filed to remove about 62,000 square feet of unused retail on the site for an estimated $252,000, Jax Daily Record reports. Those permits follow earlier sign and renovation approvals tied to the ground-floor storage build-out and fit into a staged plan to clear rear mall structures for new uses. Once the dust settles, the owner intends to market the freed-up acreage to discounters, furniture stores and other retailers.
Site sale and what's next for tenants
Global Building paid about $6 million in July 2024 for roughly 10.7 acres at the Gateway property and an estimated 263,000 square feet of vacant indoor mall space, according to industry listings. The same filings indicate that city utility JEA has reviewed service availability for an affordable housing proposal at 5156 Norwood Ave., and that about 30,000 square feet of nearby retail space will be offered to new tenants, according to industry notices. That mix of self storage, discount retail and housing follows a familiar playbook for aging mall properties in the region, allowing developers to phase construction while layering in new uses.
Timeline and neighborhood impact
Developers have stressed a step-by-step rollout so the storage business can start bringing in customers while the rest of the property is reworked, according to Inside Self Storage. That means Brentwood neighbors should expect demolition crews and construction activity over the coming months as the owner prepares sites for retail space and the proposed affordable housing. The conversion is one more example of how large, vacant department-store shells are being recycled to fit shifting retail and housing needs in Jacksonville's Brentwood neighborhood.
