Dallas-based Hillwood, the city’s master developer at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville, continues to work with a prospect who executed a contract during the third quarter of 2023 to buy 15 acres for a retail facility.
The site is on Parcel Q, which is an almost 112-acre parcel at southwest Normandy Boulevard and POW-MIA Memorial Parkway.
Hillwood is working with the prospect through due diligence, including the planning, survey, title review and preliminary discussions with the city.
Hillwood included the information in its fourth-quarter report to the city Office of Economic Development for activities from October-December 2022. It did not identify the prospective buyer.
Because of the time frame of the report, it did not refer to Spain-based Cosentino Group’s agreement with the city in May to buy 330 acres of the megasite at Cecil Commerce Center and possibly another 150 acres later for a manufacturing plant to build surfaces for kitchens, bathrooms, living and outdoor spaces and other architectural projects.
It also did not refer to news that Baker Hughes Co. is closing its AllianceFlorida plant next year, putting 183 people out of work at a facility. GE Oil & Gas opened the plant in 2015 to make industrial valves, pumps and gear valves.
GE merged its oil and gas division with Baker Hughes in 2017. Baker Hughes announced the layoff May 18.
As the developer, Hillwood bought the GE Oil & Gas site from the city in August 2013 for $294,290 and then developed the speculative 510,000-square-foot structure.
GE Oil & Gas announced in September 2014 it would lease the property to produce valves and controls. Hillwood sold the GE Oil & Gas manufacturing plant property in February 2015 for $57.6 million to a California investor.
In other activity during the fourth quarter, Hillwood told the city it:
• Received and responded to a preliminary inquiry from a company interested in buying about 30 acres for construction of a 500,000-square-foot distribution facility.
• Received and responded to a build-to-suit request for proposals from a company interested in leasing about 350,000 square feet of distribution space.
• Continued to negotiate a purchase and sale agreement with a developer interested in buying 10 to 20 acres for distribution operations.
As the master developer, Hillwood is required to report its quarterly activity at AllianceFlorida to the city.
Hillwood has developed about 3.225 million square feet at AllianceFlorida. That includes two 1 million-square-foot centers for internet retailer Amazon.com on about 86.5 acres and online home-furnishings company Wayfair on 80 acres.
In addition, the 300,000-square-foot FedEx Ground Package System Inc. facility, developed by SunCap Property Group LLC, also counts toward Hillwood’s development benchmarks with the city.
Hillwood and the former Jacksonville Economic Development Commission made a 25-year Master Disposition and Development Agreement in 2010 to develop Cecil Commerce Center.
That agreement was 10 years with three five-year renewal options.
The agreement calls for Hillwood to build-out AllianceFlorida on about 4,499 acres of city property, the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, off Normandy Boulevard and 103rd Street in West Jacksonville.
It is designed for the city to share in the profits. As the master developer, Hillwood typically secures the tenant, buys the land from the city, develops the project and then sells the property to an investor.
The city receives 10% of the profit proceeds for industrial space and it will be 50% for mixed-use development.
No mixed-use deal has been done.
As for sales, among them Hillwood sold both of the million-square-foot completed structures.