Titan Florida requested a six-month extension from the city for construction of its proposed $18.37 million ready-mix concrete plant at 1712 N. McDuff Ave.
City Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry said April 18 that construction has not begun.
“The company has been working through some site plan approvals with the city. They very recently requested a 6-month extension, which we were happy to grant,” Perry said by email.
Titan Florida, which operates two ready-mix concrete plants in Duval County, proposes adding a third.
City Council adopted Resolution 2023-0860-A on Jan. 10 after two committees recommended approval of grant funding that would cover a small portion of a Northwest Jacksonville project.
The Rules and Finance committees voted unanimously Jan. 2 and Jan. 3, respectively, in support of providing a $100,000 Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund Business Infrastructure Grant to the company.
City documents show Titan asks for the grant to offset a portion of the site development costs to make the project competitive with other Titan plants that are competing for development funding from Titan’s parent company, Titan Cement International SA. It is based in Athens, Greece.
Titan Florida is a subsidiary of Titan America, which operates as the U.S. arm of the international company.
The city Office of Economic Development reported that the plant would create 24 full-time jobs with an average annual wage of $54,708, which equates to 163% of the median household income in the site’s census tract. The annual payroll would be $1.3 million.
According to a city auditor’s report, the proposed grant agreement would require Titan to begin construction before March 1, 2024, and complete the plant by the end of 2027. That start date has been extended.
The agreement includes several clawback clauses in which the city can withhold disbursement of the grant. Among them, the company would be required to repay the city $4,166 per job if it creates fewer than 24 new jobs within 36 months of the grant disbursement.
The grant would be terminated under the agreement if Titan fails to invest at least $3 million by the end of 2027.
On its website, titanamerica.com, Titan says it operates in nine U.S. states and Canada.
Its Duval County operations comprise a ready-mix plant and terminal at 7330 Philips Highway and a ready-mix plant at 1220 Eastport Road.
In addition to ready-mix, Titan produces aggregates, concrete block, cement and fly ash.
Titan Florida LLC requested a JEA service-availability determination for the water needed for a concrete ready-mix batch plant and a future block manufacturing plant on 15.4 acres.
JEA issued an availability letter April 16 to Titan Florida LLC, in Parkland, to detail the connections, availability and further steps.