A proposed $1.5 million property tax rebate for an undisclosed company to build a $60 million cold-storage facility in Northwest Jacksonville is on its way to the Jacksonville City Council after the Mayor's Budget Review Committee authorized the legislation.
The Office of Economic Development is seeking an incentive for the company, code-named Project Bobcat. According to a city summary, the company intends to bolster its distribution support operations by building a 120,000-square-foot cold and dry foods storage facility in Duval County by the end of 2025.
Bobcat is described in city documents as a national minority-owned food supplier and logistics company that is gearing up to expand throughout Florida and the Southeastern U.S.
Ed Randolph, executive director of the OED, told the MBRC Jacksonville was competing with “a couple of other sites in Northern Florida and Southern Georgia” to attract the facility.
He said after the vote on the project that Bobcat serves customers in Jacksonville but does not have a brick-and-mortar operation here.
With the MBRC’s vote, legislation to approve the incentive will be introduced to the Council.
The OED proposes to provide a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant based on 50% of the increase in real and personal property taxes generated at the project site over five years.
The city’s summary says the project will generate a return on investment of $4.45 for every $1 in public funding invested.
It says the facility will create 109 jobs with an annual payroll of more than $5.5 million, exclusive of benefits.
The availability of incentives is a factor in the company’s decision on where to build the facility, the city says.