Total Distribution Inc., a third-party logistics company, has leased the 1,000,400-square-foot warehouse developed at Florida Gateway Logistic Park in West Jacksonville.
Total Distribution, formerly known as Grimes Companies, is part of Peoples Services Inc., based in Canton, Ohio.
Darin Haines, chief operating officer of Peoples Services, said the company is prepping the building now with a goal to start moving in customer products in mid-October.
Total Distribution already has about 900,000 square feet of warehouse space among three locations in West and North Jacksonville.
Haines said Total Distribution will vacate 448,000 square feet it leases along New Berlin Road.
It will continue to use a 199,000-square-foot facility it owns at 600 Ellis Road N. and 263,000 square feet it leases at 4300 Bulls Bay Highway.
When it moves into Florida Gateway Logistics Park, it will have almost 1.5 million square feet of space in Jacksonville.
“We decided to expand in Jacksonville as part of our continued strategy to grow and invest in our multistate network, take advantage of being close to the Jacksonville port, and our view of the Jacksonville market being a market that will continue to grow,” Haines said in an emailed statement.
The company
Peoples Services describes itself as a network of wholly owned 3PL companies that include Total Distribution, Peoples Cartage, Central Warehouse Operations and Terminal Warehouse,
Haines said it operates in 39 facilities in eight states covering 9.5 million square feet of public and contract warehouse space.
In April 2018, it bought Grimes Companies in Jacksonville and its four locations, expanding its regional footprint to the Southeast.
JLL Executive Managing Director Luke Pope and Vice President Ross Crabtree represented the landlord in the lease at Florida Gateway Logistics Park.
Cushman & Wakefield Executive Directors Tyler Newman and Jacob Horsley represented Total Distribution.
Newman said Aug. 25 that Total Distribution will relocate from the leased space along New Berlin Road but will keep other existing locations that it leases and owns.
The move allows Total Distribution to expand, Newman said.
“It’s a bigger picture of why Jacksonville is growing and has a huge upside,” he said.
“There are a lot of companies in the area that continue to grow because our region has a lot to offer,” he said.
As a third-party logistics company, Total Distribution has clients that want to be in key markets, he said.
“Some will be clients in other markets that want a presence in Jacksonville. Others may be local accounts,” he said.
Haines said the company does not share customer information but welcomes the “opportunity to grow our footprint in Jacksonville to better support our existing customer base, and to expand into new areas.”
Big space absorption
The move also means the most recent two 1 million-square-foot warehouses in Jacksonville have been leased.
Project Crystal, known to be Sam’s Club, will lease the 1,003,200-square-foot Building E warehouse in VanTrust Real Estate’s Imeson Park South in North Jacksonville.
City Council signed off June 13 on a $1.5 million tax incentive for code-named Project Crystal’s plan to establish an estimated $61 million distribution facility in North Jacksonville.
The Daily Record has reported that Project Crystal fits the description of Sam’s Club, the wholesale membership club division of global merchandiser Walmart Inc.
JLL also represents the landlord at Imeson Park South.
At Florida Gateway Logistics Park, the city issued permits in April 2022 for the first phase of three buildings totaling 1.72 million square feet of space at 9909 Pritchard Road, west of Interstate 295.
Counting the construction and foundations, site clearing and electrical work, the costs total $67 million.
With Total Distribution, all three of the first buildings have been committed.
IPEX Inc., a Canada-based wholesale supplier of specialized PVC and thermoplastic piping systems, has leased the 300,240-square-foot Building 2 at 9909 Pritchard Road.
Developers sold the 416,000-square-foot Building 3 and expansion property to neighboring Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC for almost $39.5 million.
The next phases will add more space. The remaining five buildings range from 250,200 to 416,000 square feet.
California-based CT Realty in partnership with Diamond Realty Investments LLC bought 251 acres in April 2021 for $19.5 million to develop the more than $300 million, 3.2 million-square-foot, eight-building industrial park.
The first phase is 164 acres.
Pope said in February 2022 the first three buildings will be completed about the first quarter of 2023.