ArdentX LLC, a Jacksonville-based transportation and logistics company, intends to relocate its headquarters and launch a warehouse at Freebird Commerce Center in North Jacksonville.
The move more than triples ArdentX’s office space, launches its warehousing venture and will double the capacity for employees and truck owner-operators.
“I’ve been doing this 40 years,” founder and CEO Chuck Miller said April 26.
“We are just really good at what we do. We over-communicate and our service is unbelievable.”
Miller says the freight-brokerage company always is available, and staff works on weekends.
He expects $120 million in sales this year, up from $70 million last year and $50 million in 2019.
He said customers include Clorox, Procter & Gamble, Anheuser-Busch, General Motors, Ford, US Foods, among others.
ArdentX also has been the No. 1 carrier for COVID-19 tests nationwide, he said.
The ArdentX.co site says its customers include the food, paper, electronics, government and machinery industries. (The site is .co rather than .com because that was used by an out-of-state marketing company.)
Miller said ArdentX is investing $1.8 million in the headquarters project, at 13225 Vantage Way, No. 110. He hopes to relocate the business from the Southpoint area by September.
ArdentX will lease 51,692 square feet of space at Freebird.
Miller said the company will use about 42,000 square feet for warehousing and 10,000 square feet for offices and amenities for employees, such as a gym, locker rooms, kitchen, lounge, game room and more.
The city issued a permit April 23 for build-out of 13,500 square feet of space.
Emerald C’s Development Inc. is the contractor for the $877,477 build-out. Micamy Design Studio is the interior designer.
The North Jacksonville location in Jacksonville International Tradeport takes it closer to Jacksonville International Airport for air freight and also is near Amazon.com’s Pecan Park Road fulfillment centers.
Miller said ArdentX employs 50 people and he hopes to double that with the move. Hiring would start about a month before the relocation.
ArdentX will need customer service and warehouse workers, brokers, dispatchers and owner-operators who own their own equipment.
He said ArdentX owns 50 trailers and it contracts with truck owner-operators. He intends to double that number.
Miller said 30 trailers are coming in June, boosting the number to 80. Then he intends to order 20 more.
ArdentX also owns a box truck and wants to have at least five for local work and expedited shipments.
COO Connor Miller said ArdentX uses the box truck for local delivery, less-than-truckload, last-mile and expedited loads.
Its headquarters now occupy 3,246 square feet of office space at 6675 Corporate Center Parkway, Suite 300, in 95 Corporate Center in the Southpoint area.
State corporate records show that ArdentX is led by Charles E. Miller III as president. The ArdentX.co site says he founded the company in 2003 as United Transport Services.
It changed to ArdentX in 2019.
“As the transportation industry evolved Chuck understood that he would need someone with an innate understanding around the technology involved to continue growing. So in 2015, Connor Miller came on board and United Transport Services became ArdentX,” the site says.
Connor Miller, Chuck Miller’s son, is listed on the site as co-founder.
Connor Miller, 27, is chief operating officer. He has taken over the daily operations of the business and said revenue has doubled.
Chuck Miller said he changed the name to reflect the meaning of “ardent” and to add the X to avoid a conflict with other corporate names using the word.
He said ardent means passionate and wholehearted. “That is what we are, ardent.”
Miller, 58, also has a foundation, C.E.M. Foundation, which focuses on helping the community, especially children. He also has an investment group, ArdentX Holdings.
Miller said Newmark Phoenix Realty Group Director Rich Antzcak represented ArdentX in the lease deal.
Scannell Properties of Indianapolis is the property owner and developer of Freebird Commerce Center.
Cushman & Wakefield of Florida LLC Senior Directors Jacob Horsley and Tyler Newman and Senior Associate Taylor Calfee represent the property.
Freebird Commerce Center comprises two buildings. The ArdentX lease fills up the rest of the 156,000-square-foot Building 100.
Home improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies Inc. leases 104,000 square feet there for a last-mile delivery facility for bulky items such as appliances, riding mowers, grills and patio furniture.
Miller said ArdentX is talking with Lowe’s about a contract.
Building 200 is a 117,750-square-foot building that Horsley said April 26 is fully available.
The site is at southwest Duval and Airport roads, west of Interstate 95.
Luke Feldman, senior associate at NAI Hallmark, represents 95 Corporate Center.
He said ArdentX’s lease term ends next year and the space is on the market.
