JAXUSA Partnership made it official April 25 that Anderson-DuBose Co. plans to open a $60 million facility in Northwest Jacksonville.
JAXUSA announced the Ohio-based food service distributor will hire 109 employees for its Jacksonville operation, where it will serve more than 300 restaurants in the Southeast.
Anderson-DuBose distributes food and paper items to McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill locations.
Last month, the Jacksonville City Council approved Resolution 2024-0156 providing a $1.5 million Recapture Enhanced Value Grant to the company, identified by the codename Project Bobcat in early documents from the Office of Economic Development.
In late February, the Daily Record reported that Anderson-DuBose was Project Bobcat.
“By expanding our footprint into Jacksonville, we can better meet the burgeoning demand for cold and dry food service storage in the Southeast and revolutionize distribution support operations for our valued customers,” Anderson-DuBose Chief Operating Officer Mike Boddy said in a news release.
The release said the company is buying 33 acres of Norfolk Southern-owned property to develop a 160,000-square-foot, rail-served ambient and cold-storage distribution facility. The site is in Westlake Industrial Park, north of Interstate 10 and west of I-295, and served exclusively by a Norfolk Southern mainline.
The company will generate more than 160 carloads of freight for Norfolk Southern annually, the release says.
“Anderson-DuBose appreciates Norfolk Southern’s commitment to this joint growth opportunity for both of our companies,” Boddy said.
The company is Ohio’s largest minority-owned business and operates warehouses in Lordstown, Ohio, and Rochester, New York.
Anderson-DuBose is “continuing a growing trend of companies expanding operations into Jacksonville because we are a fantastic place to do business,” Mayor Donna Deegan said in the release.
Stefan Loeb, Norfolk Southern’s vice president of business development and first and final mile markets, said in the release that by leveraging its real estate assets, the company was “not only enhancing our operational capabilities, but we are also fostering economic development in the regions we serve and lowering our national supply chain’s carbon footprint.”
Anderson-DuBose, led by founder and CEO Warren Anderson, began in 1991 when it bought a McDonald’s distribution center in Cleveland, according to its website. After adding a second center in Pittsburgh, the company consolidated the units in 2013 into a new facility in Lordstown.
Anderson-DuBose’s agreement with the city calls for the company to create 85 jobs by Dec. 31, 2028. If the announced 109 jobs are created, the company expects a payroll of more than $5.5 million exclusive of benefits. That’s an average of about $50,500 per job.
The city REV grant is based on 50% of the increase in real and personal property taxes generated at the site over five years. The city calculates its return on investment at $4.45 for every $1 invested.
The release says JEA worked with JAXUSA to help Anderson-DuBose with site selection.
“Anderson-DuBose is well-known as an incredible place to work, and we are proud to help bring more than 100 new sought-after jobs to our community,” JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace said in the release. “We are strategically located to serve as a Southeastern logistics hub and thank Anderson-DuBose for investing in Jacksonville.”