AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center master developer Hillwood bought almost 80 acres for construction of a 1 million-square-foot warehouse for use by Wayfair Inc.
Through a subsidiary, 103 BLDG A-B LLC, Dallas-based Hillwood closed on the $758,330.50 purchase Dec. 20. The sale was recorded with the Duval County Clerk of Courts on Dec. 21. The city of Jacksonville was the seller.
Hillwood paid about $9,517 an acre for the 79.68 acres.
The company also secured a $49.7 million mortgage Dec. 21 from Tennessee-based Pinnacle Bank.
When completed, the building will be used as a distribution center by Wayfair, a Boston-based online furniture and home goods retailer.
Wayfair plans to open a $72 million distribution center where it will hire 250 full-time employees.
City Council approved a $3.3 million grant for Wayfair in October, which provides an annual refund of a percentage of new property taxes generated by the project.
Legislation tied to the economic development agreement says Wayfair will invest $50 million into real estate and $22 million into machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures.
The city can terminate the grant if Wayfair’s investment falls below $40 million in private funding by year-end 2020.
Hillwood applied for permits Dec. 4 to build the 1,012,567-square-foot center at a cost of $49 million and build-out 16,280 square feet of office space at a cost of $3.5 million. That totals $52.5 million.
The Conlan Co. is the contractor and Prosser Inc. is the engineer.
Wayfair will pay for construction and development costs through a lease it has with Hillwood.
According to the economic development agreement, Wayfair will start construction on or before Jan. 31 and complete it on or before Dec. 31, 2020.
The city said previously the building will be completed by year-end 2020 and the jobs created by the end of 2021.