The Mathis Report: Project Milan resembles McKesson

Unidentified health care project seeks incentives to expand.


The lease on McKesson’s offices at 4345 Southpoint Blvd. is set to end this year.
The lease on McKesson’s offices at 4345 Southpoint Blvd. is set to end this year.
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Project Milan, the unidentified health care company seeking city incentives for an expansion, matches the specifications of McKesson Corp.

San Francisco-based McKesson bought Jacksonville-based PSS World Medical Corp. in 2013 and continues to lease the PSS space in Southpoint.

Project Milan seeks an up to a $700,000 Recaptured Enhanced Value grant, payable over 10 years, to add 10 IT and finance positions to its existing Jacksonville workforce of 428 people.

McKesson, which ranks No. 5 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue, calls itself a global leader in health care supply chain management solutions, retail pharmacy, community oncology and specialty care, and healthcare information technology.

It reported revenue of $198.5 billion for the fiscal year that ended March 31, up 4 percent from the prior year.

Project Milan also is proposing to lease and furnish a Class A office building that would be built in South Jacksonville. The capital investment in the building and IT and equipment is estimated at $28.5 million. 

The legislation documents describe it both as 90,000 and 95,000 square feet in size.

McKesson has not confirmed or denied it is Milan.

“We regularly review our real estate footprint and are evaluating our options in the Jacksonville area as a normal course of business. It would be premature to discuss any speculation,” said spokeswoman Kristin Hunter Chasen.

Asked whether Project Milan is McKesson, JAX Chamber spokesman Matt Galnor said the chamber cannot comment.

When McKesson bought PSS, it took over its former headquarters offices in Southpoint at 4345 Southpoint Blvd., a building with 104,358 square feet of leasable space. 

McKesson leases the building, which is owned by a Connecticut-based real estate investment group. Duval County property records show the four-story structure was built in 1997.

McKesson Medical Surgical, one of McKesson’s operating units, announced in October 2013 it agreed to extend the lease until this year.

Upon the acquisition, PSS World Medical was combined with McKesson’s Medical Surgical distribution business.

PSS World Medical distributed medical products and services to physicians and caregivers throughout the United States. It had about 4,000 employees.

McKesson Medical-Surgical said in 2015 that it also would continue to lease other space in Jacksonville. 

It closed a large distribution center in Westside Industrial Park but continued to lease a smaller center there of about 70,000 square feet of distribution space.

A spokesman said at the time that McKesson employed about 500 office staff in Jacksonville, not too much larger than the size of the workforce for Project Milan.

The incentives legislation, to be introduced today to City Council, calls for the company to add 10 IT and finance positions with an average salary of $45,562. 

According to the development agreement, the jobs must be created by year-end 2021, although a project summary says 2019.

The project summary also says the 10 jobs were the minimum and that the company could create 50 new positions by year-end 2022 with an average wage of $77,000. 

The agreement states construction must begin by June 30 and be completed by year-end 2019.

The summary said the company also is considering expansion in a Northeastern city.

The legislation, 2017-474, is on a fast track.

 

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