The city is reviewing a permit application for Evans General Contractors to build-out a Florida Gateway Logistics Park building for IPEX Inc. at a project cost of almost $2.75 million.
Permit documents show IPEX North America will lease the roughly 300,000-square-foot Building 200 at 9909 Pritchard Road in West Jacksonville.
The Canada-based wholesale supplier of specialized PVC and thermoplastic piping systems has leased the structure, also called Building 2.
“We can confirm the building lease at Florida Gateway Logistics Park is the future site of an IPEX Distribution Centre set to open winter of 2024 distributing thermoplastic pipe and fittings to local markets,” IPEX Distribution and Logistics Director Scott Sinclair said Aug. 3.
Sinclair said IPEX employs more than 4,000 people across Canada and the United States but did not respond to a question about how many will be hired in Jacksonville.
The email said the company will issue a news release closer to opening.
CBRE represented IPEX in the lease deal.
JLL Executive Managing Director Luke Pope and Senior Vice President Ross Crabtree represent the owners in leasing Florida Gateway Logistics Park.
Ontario-based IPEX, a subsidiary of Belgium-based Aliaxis, said in a job posting for the Jacksonville center that the company is one of the leading North American providers of advanced plastic piping systems.
Commercial real estate analytics company CoStar Group Inc., based in Washington, D.C., reported July 3 that IPEX filled the building in CT Realty Investors’ Florida Gateway Logistics Park.
IPEXna.com says that Aliaxis operates in more than 40 countries with more than 14,000 employees to design pipe and fitting systems for the building, infrastructure, industrial and agriculture sectors.
IPEX has U.S. production facilities in North Carolina, Oklahoma and Fort Pierce in Florida.
In 2022, IPEX said it would add 28 new production lines to those locations to become operational in late 2022 through early 2024 and was considering further automation.
On Dec. 9, 2022, IPEX announced it would open a more than 250,000-square-foot distribution center in Middletown, Pennsylvania, its 16th investment in four years.
“This DC is the newest in our multi-year strategy to expand our footprint in the United States,” IPEX CEO Alex Mestres said in the release.
IPEX said the Pennsylvania center will incorporate industry-leading health and safety best practices and technologies, including scanning and material handling equipment, and pedestrian safety equipment.
It said it would require 20 full-time employees.
“Future growth plans for IPEX in 2023 include additional DCs in the southern and western United States,” the release said.
In Jacksonville, Building 2 is one of three at Florida Gateway Logistics Park.
A California-based partnership of CT Realty and Diamond Realty Investments LLC bought 251 acres to develop the more than $300 million, 3.2 million-square-foot, eight-building Florida Gateway Logistics Park.
DRI/CTR JAX Phase I LLC bought the vacant land from Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC of Deerfield Beach in 2021.
The first phase is 164 acres.
Total Distribution Inc., a third-party logistics company, has leased the 1 million-square-foot warehouse.
In March 2023, owners sold the 416,000-square-foot Building 3 and expansion property to the neighboring Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC.
Owners sold Building 2 on Dec. 19, 2023, to a joint venture of Clarion Partners LLC and Diamond Realty Investments.
CTR Partners of Newport Beach, California, sold Building 200 through DRI/CTR Jax Phase I LLC.
The buyer was CT Realty of Dallas in a partnership with Diamond Realty Investments of Los Angeles through Clarion Partners LLC.
In January, developers filed plans for the second phase of Florida Gateway Logistics Park for Buildings 4 and 6, totaling 829,200 square feet.
Building 4 is 650,000 square feet and Building 6 is 179,200 square feet.
The next phases will add more space. Buildings 1 and 7 are shown as future development.