The Massy Group of Companies is starting to expand distribution in the U.S. from a warehouse investment in North Jacksonville at 10775 Yeager Road.
Massy Distribution Properties LLC, a Miami-area company that is part of the Caribbean group that bought Jacksonville-based Rowe’s Supermarkets Inc. in December 2022, is building-out part of the warehouse it bought in October in Imeson International Industrial Park.
The city issued a permit Feb. 21 for Jacksonville-based Auld & White Constructors LLC to build-out office and dry storage space for Massy Distribution in 102,192 square feet of space at a project cost of $696,300.
Studio9 Architecture of Jacksonville is the architect.
Massy Distribution bought the 172,136-square-foot warehouse Oct. 16 for $24.5 million from IPI-10775 Inc., part of Orlando-based Webb Southeast Inc.
JPMorgan Chase of Miami issued a $9.65 million mortgage.
Plans show Phase II future cold storage in the space.
Plans also show another part of the building will be for a future warehouse tenant.
Massy, which operates and services supermarkets among its other investments, says its Jacksonville warehouse “will facilitate the growth of our US Distribution business.”
Based in the Caribbean
The Massy Group of Companies, based in Trinidad and Tobago, says in its 2023 annual report that it sold its Medley warehouse in the Miami area and bought the Jacksonville building, which is three times the space used by Massy Distribution in Medley, providing opportunities for growth.
“In Distribution, we have added new lines in every territory and opened new warehousing space” in Barbados, Guyana and Florida to support the growth, it said.
Jacksonville-based NAI Hallmark said Vice President and Industrial Specialist Jason Purdy and Senior Associate Camden Padgett brokered the warehouse transaction on behalf of Massy Distribution USA, based in Medley.
“Securing the ideal location, with close proximity to JAX Airport, Downtown and JAXPORT, was a strategic move for our client. The city’s growing logistics hub, combined with our in-depth market knowledge, allowed us to navigate this competitive market and find the perfect property that met our buyer’s needs,” Purdy said in an October 2023 news release.
The city issued a permit Oct. 14, 2022, for the warehouse construction at a project cost of $12.3 million at Yeager and Cold Storage roads.
Massy Distribution (USA) was long established, but in the last two years Massy has registered several companies with the state of Florida, including Massy Stores (USA) LLC on Nov. 30, 2022; Massy Integrated Retail (USA) LLC on April 27, 2023; Massy (USA) Inc. on May 3, 2023; and Massy Distribution Properties LLC on July 26, 2023.
Massy Distribution (USA) Inc. and Massy Distribution Properties are based in Medley/Miami, while the others are based in Trinidad with mailing addresses at the Medley office.
Massy Distribution services supermarkets, groceries, pharmacies, hospitals, variety stores, wholesalers, hardware stores, agricultural shops and industries, hotels, restaurants and duty-free outlets across the major markets of the English-speaking Caribbean.
Massy Distribution USA, which it says is a “leading Caribbean distribution partner,” markets brands that include Silk, Biore, Purina, Duracell, Kraft Heinz, Stella, Swiss Miss, Act II, Duncan Hines, Ocean Spray, Valrico and Jergens.
The site says the U.S. warehouse has duty-free warehousing.
Purchased Rowe's in 2022
Massy Holdings Ltd., a Trinidad and Tobago-based holding company, said it paid $47 million in U.S. dollars for Rowe’s IGA Supermarkets on Dec. 12, 2022.
Massy Group says in its 2023 annual report that the seven Jacksonville Rowe’s IGA stores added more than 400 associates to the group and contributed revenue of $118.4 million in U.S. dollars in the 9½ months after the acquisition.
It said the Rowe’s Supermarkets have been fully integrated into its retail operations, “and are out-performing initial expectations.”
“The acquisition provides the base for the further expansion of the Portfolio’s Retail footprint in the lucrative US market which is consistent with it achieving its ambitious growth objectives,” the annual report says.
The 2023 annual report calls Rowe’s “an excellent beachhead for further niche supermarket acquisitions in the United States, while providing strength in hard currency cash generation.”
The company said in a December 2022 news release why it saw Rowe’s as a fit for acquisition.
“What attracted us to it was it was seven stores, so it wasn’t a complex business to get into,” Suite said.
“We met with the team and we have very similar styles of work, and the culture is very similar, so this is how we ended up with Rowe’s,” Suite said.
Rob Rowe established Rowe’s IGA in 2005 by acquiring stores closed by Albertsons Companies Inc. after that supermarket chain pulled out of the Jacksonville market.
Rowe is a former executive with the Albertsons and Winn-Dixie chains.
Rowe said Dec. 19, 2022, he would stay with the Jacksonville-based company. He is listed in state records as CEO of Massy Stores (USA) LLC.
Rowe said upon the sale that the Massy Group wanted to make a push into the United States, starting in Florida.
Suite said it would be a joint decision with the management team that has been operating the company.
“We will be actively looking and whatever makes sense, we’ll do,” Rowe said.