City Council in the coming weeks will consider two economic development deals that could bring 77 jobs and $14 million in capital investment to North and Northwest Jacksonville in exchange for close to $650,000 in taxpayer incentives.
The first is an unnamed engineering company with ties to Jacksonville.
“Project Grace” would like to expand its existing facility within the Jacksonville International Airport Community Redevelopment Area by adding 54 jobs over two years at an average wage of just more than $66,000.
The other option, according to documents, is to move the engineering services team to Atlanta.
To expand in North Jacksonville while retaining its existing 30 employees, the company is seeking $448,200 in incentives. That consists of a Qualified Targeted Industry Tax Refund grant of $324,000, payable after the jobs are created, and a state training grant of $124,200. The city would be responsible for 20 percent of the QTI, or $64,800, while the state would cover the remainder.
Project Grace would invest an extra $2.1 million to cover information technology equipment, furniture and other real estate improvements as part of the expansion.
There’s potential business in Northwest Jacksonville, too.
The Hans-Mill Corp., a newly formed U.S. corporation, would like to take over a former Cenveo printing facility at 5406 W. First St. and establish operations to manufacture metal trash cans.
The company produces metal household goods for retailers like Walmart, HomeGoods, Target and JCPenney.
The company is expected to invest $11.8 million to purchase and renovate the building and is seeking a $200,000 grant from the Northwest Economic Development Trust Fund to partially off-set those expenses.
The company would create 23 jobs at an average wage of $30,000 plus benefits.
Both deals were introduced Tuesday to council for review.
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