The Jacksonville Aviation Authority board is scheduled to vote on a ground lease agreement July 27 with Amazon Services LLC at Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport in East Arlington.
The two sides negotiated terms for a 20-year lease with three 10-year options, totaling 50 years.
According to the JAA submission for board approval, Amazon will build, manage and operate a last-mile distribution center for deliveries in the Arlington, Beach and east Jacksonville communities.
Amazon Services LLC will design, develop and build:
• A 180,000-square-foot distribution facility and parking.
• An east-west extension of General Doolittle Drive.
• A new north-south road called Blue Angel Road to connect Atlantic Boulevard to General Doolittle Drive.
• Intersection modifications and stop light improvements at Atlantic Boulevard and Sutton Lakes Boulevard.
The initial annual rent is 30 cents per square foot with a 2.5% yearly increase.
If Amazon Services LLC exercises an extension option, a fair market appraisal on the ground rent will be done in contract years 20, 30 and 40.
The agreement says that in consideration of the roadway improvements Amazon Services LLC will make at its cost, JAA will provide $3 million in rent credit spread over the first six years.
The total project rental revenue in the initial term after the credit is more than $14 million, the submission says.
JAA management recommends the board approve the ground lease agreement and authorize authority CEO Mark VanLoh to execute the documents.
The submission explains that the south side of the JAXEX property, which is at northeast Atlantic Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road, contains about 101 unimproved acres designated for nonaeronautical uses outside the permimeter of the airfield.
A master plan approved by the Federal Aviation Administration designates the property for long-term commercial uses.
The submission says the authority bought about 2 acres in 1976 near the Atlantic and Sutton Lakes boulevards intersection to allow for a future access road to be built to provide the property better connectivity to Atlantic Boulevard.
The property is between two car dealerships.
The submission says that the only access to the site currently is General Doolittle Drive, which is limited to right-turn-only access in and out.
In October 2020, the JAA conducted a public solicitation through a request for interest to identify parties to lease and develop the property.
Seefried Development Properties Inc. was chosen as the highest-scoring proposer among the three submissions received.
Seefried, on behalf of Amazon Services LLC, proposed a warehouse and distribution facility to use 78 acres, most of the property in the solicitation.
In January and February 2022, the city rezoned the property to industrial business park for the development.
In July 2022, the Florida Department of Transportation, as the owner of Atlantic Boulevard, reviewed Seefried’s vehicle traffic study and determined that modifications and design changes were needed “to ensure the intersection operates in a safe and efficient manner.”
The submission says the department’s recommendations “in collaboration with the City of Jacksonville’s traffic engineers included a tear-drop roundabout that preserves stoplight access to all of the car dealership operators and their patrons.”
The board is scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m. July 27 in the Ed Austin Board Room on the third floor of the JAA administration building at 14201 Pecan Park Road.