Bacardi USA is the Project Pineapple that committed to lease a NorthPoint Industrial Park warehouse.
Broker Wayne Schuchts, principal with Avison Young in Miami, said May 3 that the rum bottler will move its distribution function from one North Jacksonville development to another.
“Bacardi needed more space and more efficiency,” said Schuchts, principal of industrial, land and office leasing.
He said Avison Young has represented Bacardi for 15 years.
Jacksonville-based Bacardi Bottling Corp. operates at 12200 N. Main St., 6 miles west of the NorthPoint facility.
It bottles Bacardi rum-branded products and employs more than 200 people.
Bacardi’s many rum flavors include pineapple.
Bacardi USA, the sister distribution company, has leased warehouse space at One Imeson at 1 Imeson Park Blvd. for 20 years, Schuchts said. That operation is about 8.5 miles southwest of NorthPoint and 3 miles south of the bottling plant.
Schuchts said Bacardi will move in the first quarter from 292,000 square feet at One Imeson into a 351,000-square-foot building at NorthPoint.
He said the NorthPoint building, which is under development, has higher ceilings “and a fair amount more efficiency.”
Bacardi spokespeople have not responded to several requests for comment.
In October, Bacardi Bottling Corp. Operations Center Director Darrin Mueller said the Jacksonville plant ships more than 8.6 million cases of rum each year.
Mueller said it was on track to exceed that by almost 1 million cases in 2020. Of that, 95% is shipped domestically.
The city issued a permit April 14 for the foundation construction of the 351,520-square-foot NorthPoint building at 3559 Port Jacksonville Parkway.
Peter Anderson, vice president of new investments for NorthPoint Industrial Park developer Pattillo Industrial Real Estate, said April 15 a customer committed to lease it but he could not provide its identity.
Anderson said May 4 that work will begin the first of June. Completion is expected in the first quarter.
Arco Design/Build of Atlanta is the contractor for the $288,220 foundation project.
Project Pineapple is shown on plans as an industrial build-to-suit, but there is no reference to the identity of the tenant for the North Jacksonville project.
The structure is Building 9 on 26.82 acres.
The building site plan shows a future expansion of 132,080 square feet, indicating a potential structure of 483,600.
Randall-Paulson Architects Inc. of Roswell, Georgia, is the architect.
“The Pattillo team, Peter Anderson and his group, have been great to work with,” Schuchts said.
Schuchts said Bacardi has operated the bottling plant and distribution center in Jacksonville for a long time.
“It is important that Jacksonville kept it there,” he said.
Atlanta-based Stone Mountain Industrial Park Inc., a Pattillo affiliate, owns the 362-acre NorthPoint, which is a master-planned development at Alta Drive and Interstate 295. Building 9 is along Port Jacksonville Parkway near New Berlin Road.
Bermuda-based Bacardi Limited says it is the largest privately held spirits company in the world. It produces and markets internationally recognized spirits and wines.
The brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including Bacardi rum, Grey Goose vodka, Patron tequila, Dewar’s Scotch Whisky and more.
It was founded more than 159 years ago in Santiago de Cuba and employs more than 7,000 people, operates production facilities in 11 countries, and sells its brands in more than 170 countries.
Ladson Montgomery, senior vice president and principal of Newmark Phoenix Realty Group, said the 300,000 square feet at One Imeson would be available for lease starting in early fall 2022.
