ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — In St. Johns County, the retail boom continues.
The area around World Golf Village is becoming a mecca for big box stores.
Walmart is the latest possibility for the area. It has submitted an application to St. Johns County to build a Walmart Supercenter at 3405 International Golf Parkway. It’s about two miles west of the Buc-ee’s and Costco at the exit off of I-95.
Just last week, the new Bass Pro Shops opened its doors. This, just after starting construction earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the commercial part of the World Golf Village complex in the northwest quadrant of the interstate and International Golf Parkway is largely empty.
There, the IMAX theater, which the county owns, is empty as well. The owners of Sun-Ray Cinema – formerly of Five Points in Jacksonville – is interested in operating that one screen theater.
"It’s the biggest screen we could possibly get! Man we can do things with that screen that we’d like to show people," Sun-Ray Cinema owner Shana David-Massett told First Coast News. She is submitting an application to St. Johns County. However, she told First Coast News the fact that the county’s contract is only for one year is something she’d like the county to reconsider.
"The idea of investing all of our energy and putting our brand on this building in order to have it only for a year contract is just not realistic for us," David-Massett said. "So that’s going to be part of our proposal."