Primark Expands US Footprint

February 8, 2024

Industrial Jacksonville News Retail More Southeast

One of the European retailer's recent moves involves a Jacksonville, Fla., warehouse.

Primark is the sole tenant of this 550,000-square-foot warehouse. *Image courtesy of Primark*

Clothing retailer Primark has continued its U.S. expansion with the opening of a new distribution center in Jacksonville, Fla., and the signing of four new retail leases for stores in Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and Texas.

The newly built warehouse, which has more than 550,000 square feet of space, is located at 1511 Zoo Parkway within the Imeson Park South complex in the North Jacksonville submarket, according to CommercialEdge data. VanTrust Real Estate is the developer of the 215-acre master-planned campus.

The single-tenant warehouse dubbed Building C has a 40-foot clear height and a total of 206 parking spaces, CommercialEdge reported. The Conlan Co. broke ground on the facility in 2022 and started tenant improvements for the European retailer in July 2023; Macgregor Associates Architects designed the Primark project.

Primark’s new distribution center will serve the company’s expansion in the U.S. with a focus on southern states including Florida, Texas and Tennessee. The retailer is opening its first store in The Volunteer State at Cool Springs Galleria in Franklin.

The Tennessee store is one of four retail sites totaling 128,000 square feet of space Primark is leasing. The other new stores will be located at Potomac Mills in Woodbridge, Va.; Mall at Prince George’s in Hyattsville, Md., and Katy Mills in Katy, Texas. The Hyattsville store will occupy 30,000 square feet in the space formerly occupied by JCPenney and plans to open in 2025.

The four new stores will be serviced by the Jacksonville distribution center and its other U.S. warehouse in Bethlehem, Pa. Primark is currently operating in 24 stores in the U.S. across eight states and has plans to have 60 U.S. stores by 2026. The company has more than 400 stores worldwide and is seeking to open 530 stores across the globe by late 2026.

Growing demand

Kevin Tulip, president of Primark U.S., said in a prepared statement the firm has seen growing demand for Primark stores across the U.S., particularly in the South. He said they recently expanded the store footprint in the Sawgrass Mills shopping center in Sunrise, Fla., to meet customer demand. Tulip added Primark also plans to open a store in Orlando, Fla., and expects the Jacksonville distribution center to play a key role in supporting the growth.

The company opened its first U.S. store in 2015 in the Burnham Building, part of the Millennium tower development in downtown Boston. Other U.S. stores include Kings Plaza in Brooklyn, Danbury Fair in Connecticut, Fashion District Philadelphia and Freehold Raceway Mall in New Jersey.

Last summer, Primark opened its seventh store in a Macerich property, leasing 54,562 square feet of multi-level space at Queens Center in the New York City borough’s Elmhurst neighborhood. Other outlets opened last year in Arundel Mills in Hanover, Md.; Tysons Corner Center in McClean, Va.; Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y.; and City Point in downtown Brooklyn, N.Y.