The Jacksonville City Council voted 17-0 on Oct. 11 to award JAX LNG LLC a property tax incentive capped at $5.3 million for its ongoing $113 million expansion of a natural gas liquefaction and storage facility along Dames Point Road.
The legislation provides a 10-year, 50% Recapture Enhanced Value Grant, a property tax refund, tied to the creation of 10 jobs by December 2027.
A project summary drafted Aug. 24 by the city Office of Economic Development says JAX LNG LLC is a 50-50 joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway Energy GT&S subsidiary Pivotal JAX LNG LLC and NorthStar Midstream.
According to the summary, the company plans $60 million in real estate improvements and $53 million in machinery, equipment installation and upgrades to its facility at 9225 Dames Point in North Jacksonville along the St. Johns River.
The 10 jobs would pay an annual average salary of $70,000 plus benefits.
Economic development officials say property tax growth from the expansion would generate a $1.99 return to the city for every $1 invested.
After the vote, Council member Aaron Bowman responded to community feedback he said he heard about the JAX LNG property tax refund. He explained the city would be receiving 50% of the new property taxes generated on the project site. He noted that the Duval County School District, Florida Inland Navigation District and St. Johns River Management District Tax are not refunded as part of the REV grant.
Bowman said the public schools would be getting about $600,000 per year in new property tax revenue from JAX LNG.
“(It’s a) great creation of jobs, great opportunity to partner with companies that are taking risk and developing in our community,” Bowman said.
Council members Randy White and Randy DeFoor were absent for the vote.
JAX LNG was established in January 2015 to develop the natural gas liquefaction and storage facility to provide LNG to industrial customers that do not have natural gas pipeline access and as fuel for marine vessels and trucks, the city summary says.
According to JAX LNG’s website, the facility is a supplier for TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico’s dual-fuel container vessels.
The first phase of the facility was completed in 2018. The city issued 14 permits in August and September 2021 to contractor G.A. West & Co. Inc. of Creola, Alabama, for project costs totaling more than $9.2 million.
At the time, Pivotal LNG said liquid natural gas storage at the site will increase from 2 million to 4 million gallons and liquefaction will rise to 360,000 gallons per day.
It was the first small-scale waterside LNG production facility in the U.S. with both marine and truck-loading capabilities, according to the release at that time.