Project Turtle is advancing more slowly than anticipated.
The city Office of Economic Development wants to introduce legislation for a new economic development agreement with Project Turtle, which the city has since identified as Collins Aerospace.
A memo from the office to Brian Hughes, chairman of the Mayor's Budget Review Committee, requests permission to introduce a resolution Feb. 11 to City Council to execute an amendment to the original agreement.
The office intends to ask the committee Jan. 27 for approval to introduce a bill to amend the agreement by changing the timeline.
That memo also says the legislation will establish a new agreement and timeline.
The memo said the city delivered the original economic development agreement to Collins Aerospace on April 17, 2019, but the company extended it and then did not execute it.
Collins Aerospace remains committed to meeting job creation and capital investment targets in the original deal, according to the economic development office.
Collins Aerospace pledges to create 108 jobs. The original agreement called for 30 jobs to be added by year-end 2019 and another 78 in 2020. It said the jobs would pay an average annual wage of $53,298 plus benefits.
It will make a capital investment of $19.2 million for a new industrial building and $2.6 million in new machinery and equipment. That project is underway.
The city agrees to provide a $1.1 million Recapture Enhanced Value grant to be paid over 10 years, based on the increased property taxes the project will generate.
The city also will provide up to $108,000 in Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund payments over five years.
The initial agreement said construction would be completed by year-end 2020.
As of December, Collins Aerospace Corp. continued to hire and build-out space for its Engineered Polymer Products plant in North Jacksonville for the project.
It will open the marine composites manufacturing plant in a 140,400-square-foot building it will lease at 10531 Busch Drive N. in Imeson International Industrial Park.
Collins Aerospace is the combined United Technologies Aerospace Systems and Rockwell Collins.
Collins Aerospace representatives have not commented on the Imeson plant.
Building plans approved a year ago show tenant improvements for offices and manufacturing space to make polyurethane parts for clients that include the U.S. Department of Defense.
The city continues to review plans, including a permit application to prepare for crane equipment.
Project Turtle surfaced Dec. 4, 2018. City Council adopted a resolution in January 2019 for $1.64 million in city and state taxpayer-backed financial incentives to expand the unidentified manufacturer’s Jacksonville operation and hire 108 employees.
Collins Aerospace already leases space at 6061 BF Goodrich Blvd. at the Blount Island Marine Terminal in North Jacksonville. The proposed amendment says it is between the city and Goodrich Corp., a Collins Aerospace Company.
The city approved the shell structure construction in May 2018 of a 140,790-square-foot building and a permit in January 2019 to build-out the office space portion at a cost of $982,000, identifying Collins Aerospace as the tenant.
The city has since approved more than $3 million of tenant improvements for the structure.