California-based CT Realty’s 251-acre West Jacksonville industrial project has an official name – Florida Gateway Logistics Park.
Leasing broker Luke Pope, managing director with JLL, said May 27 the name reflects the state’s position as a gateway market to the Southeast and Jacksonville’s location within it.
“Jacksonville has always been a great regional distribution market with our port and our connectivity, and this is a testament to that. It is a place people want to be,” he said.
A CT Realty partnership with Diamond Realty Investments LLC intends to develop a more than $300 million, 3.2 million square-foot, eight-building industrial park at the Pritchard Road property.
The site is in Westlake Industrial Park.
The partnership intends to start with three speculative buildings in the first phase totaling more than 1.7 million square feet of industrial space for completion in the second quarter of 2022.
The phase comprises the 1,000,350-square-foot Building 8 along with the 416,000- and 300,240-square-foot Buildings 3 and 2.
The number of parking spaces indicates employment and visitor capacity.
The site plan shows 518 spaces at Building 8; 214 at Building 3; and 172 at Building 2.
More workers can be accommodated in shifts.
Pope said he already has had a discussion with one group interested in the 1 million-square-foot structure, which he said likely would be built and leased to a single tenant.
Buildings that large in Jacksonville have been leased to e-commerce companies, such as Amazon.com and Wayfair Inc.
“Everyone in the past has had to do build-to-suits when needing a million-square-footer or more,” he said, meaning that developers build the structure to the specifications of a tenant that has committed to lease it.
A speculative structure of that size makes space available to tenants who might be on a tight timetable.
Pope said the smaller buildings can be single- or multitenant. “It depends on who expresses an interest,” he said.
Marketing materials are being produced, he said.
Pope said he was aware of just one other speculative building of 1 million square feet under construction in the state in the Orlando area.
Plans filed with the St. Johns River Water Management District on May 25 called the CT Realty project the Florida Gateway Logistics Center, rather than Park.
DRI/CTR JAX Phase I LLC applied to the district for review. Acreage is identified for five more buildings that total almost 1.5 million square feet and range from 250,200 to 416,000 square feet.
DRI/CTR Jax Landco LLC is a co-applicant. Both applicants are based in Newport Beach, California.
CT Realty CEO James C. “Watty” Watson said May 10 that Evans General Contractors has started initial site work. Vertical construction will start on or about Aug. 1.
He cites Interstates 10 and 95, the railroads and JaxPort as reasons for identifying Jacksonville as a distribution hub.
“Our business is catering to the largest industry tenants, particularly growth fueled by e-commerce,” Watson said.
DRI/CTR JAX Phase I LLC bought the vacant land April 29 from Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC of Deerfield Beach for $19.5 million. Watson said the land is next to the Southeast Toyota facility in Westlake.
