The city and St. Johns River Water Management District are reviewing permit applications for Project Empire, which has been identified as DHL Supply Chain and the project is larger than what is described in city incentives legislation.
The water management district is reviewing an environmental resource permit application submitted Jan. 12 for a 603,200-square-foot industrial building on 47.13 acres in North Jacksonville.
Legislation specified a 400,000-square-foot project.
RES Jacksonville I LLC of Westerville, Ohio, is the applicant and land owner.
BGE Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer. Environmental Resource Solutions LLC of Jacksonville is the environmental consultant.
The city is reviewing an application for the foundation construction at an estimated project cost of $565,113. That also specifies a 603,200-square-foot project on 47.13 acres.
The contractor is ARCO National Holdings Inc. and the architect is GMA Architects, both of Richmond Heights, Missouri.
Plans identify the project as DHL and the address is 9584 Eastport Road.
Zion Jacksonville LLC sold North Jacksonville property Nov. 28 to a company affiliated with DHL Supply Chain, backing earlier speculation that the logistics company is the city’s Project Empire.
RES Jacksonville I LLC paid $10.26 million for the undeveloped industrial land along Kraft Road. It bought the site from Bronx, New York-based Zion.
The Ohio address for RES Jacksonville is that of DHL Supply Chain.
The site is part of 892 acres owned by Zion, but the deed does not specify how much acreage RES bought.
Project Empire is on Eastport Road south of the San Mateo Little League ballfields in North Jacksonville. To the west across the St. Johns River is Imeson Industrial Park. To the north is Interstate 295.
City Council approved a resolution Sept. 26 for the city to execute a $1.5 million Recapture Enhanced Value Grant for Project Empire, described as “a major international logistics and distribution company,” to build a facility at Kraft and Eastport roads in North Jacksonville.
The legislative summary described a 400,000-square-foot, $64 million center to provide logistics and distribution services throughout the Southeast U.S.
The economic development agreement said it will be completed by Dec. 31, 2025, and create 100 full-time jobs by Dec. 31, 2026.
Empire’s 100 full-time employees will include logisticians, warehouse receiving and shipping personnel.
Project Empire matched the description of DHL, which is part of Germany-based Deutsche Post DHL Group.
DHL Group is an international logistics services company. The group generated more than $101.9 billion in sales 2022.
DHL has roots in the U.S.
Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn in San Francisco founded the company in 1969.
DHL, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Post in 2002, has four divisions:
• Supply Chain for contract logistics, providing warehousing, managed transport and value-added services.
• Express, the most commonly associated with the brand, for international courier, parcel and express mail services.
• eCommerce for international parcel delivery for business customers and consumers and e-commerce logistics and facilitation services.
• Global Forwarding and Freight for air, ocean, rail and road for larger-scale freight logistics.
• DHL Supply Chain’s U.S. headquarters is in Westerville, Ohio. A new distribution center there, anticipated to open in the second quarter of 2024, brings DHL’s total footprint to about 15 million square feet in Ohio and more than 161 million square feet in North America.
DHL Supply Chain has been posting jobs for a Jacksonville distribution center.