Developer Hillwood started site work in August and intends to launch vertical construction in the first quarter of 2025 on a speculative 603,529-square-foot warehouse in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
Executive Vice President Dan Tatsch said Sept. 12 that the developer has one prospect but could not discuss it. Hillwood is the city’s master developer at the West Jacksonville industrial park.
The city issued a site-clearing permit Aug. 23 for the project at a job cost of almost $12.1 million.
Site preparation contractor Morgan Corp. of Duncan, South Carolina, is the contractor on that permit.
The center is at 5550 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway, at northwest POW-MIA Memorial Parkway and Finger Lake Street. It is north of the Florida State College at Jacksonville Cecil Center.
Cecil Commerce Center is generally between Interstate 10 and Normandy Boulevard, with some property south of Normandy, on both sides of the parkway. It is west of Interstate 295.
Tatsch said the industrial market “is a little soft” but from a demand standpoint, Jacksonville does not have any available Class A warehouse spaces of more than 400,000 square feet, creating a market opportunity for large tenants.
He expects the warehouse, called Building E, to be completed by Sept. 1, 2025. It is designed as a cross-dock facility.
Cross-docking is a logistics practice of unloading products from an incoming truck and immediately reloading into outbound trucks or trailers.
Tatsch said Sept. 12 during the NAIOP 2024 Bus Tour that the building is suited for a single tenant but can be subdivided.
The NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association Northeast Florida Chapter sponsored the tour that comprised three buses for members to tour industrial and commercial properties. Two of those buses toured 16 industrial properties.
Tatsch and Hillwood Senior Associate Brennen Clifford represent the project.
The building is larger than first considered.
In May, the city and Hillwood were considering a 562,500-square-foot speculative distribution center as utility JEA reviewed a service-availability request determination.
Also, the St. Johns River Water Management District reviewed plans for the project, described on 46.91 acres on Parcel E.
The city is the property owner. Dallas-based Hillwood is the operator.
BGE Inc. in Jacksonville is the civil engineer. SES Environmental Resource Solutions LLC of Jacksonville is the environmental consultant.
\Tatsch said May 24 a decision was pending for the development.
The city’s master development agreement calls for Hillwood to build-out AllianceFlorida on about 4,499 acres of city property, the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, off Normandy Boulevard and 103rd Street in West Jacksonville.
That agreement is designed for the city to share in the profits. As the master developer, Hillwood typically secures the tenant, buys the land from the city, develops the project and then sells it, sharing the proceeds with the city.
By the third quarter of 2023, Hillwood’s total profit-sharing payments to the city reached $10 million since its 2010 agreement to serve as master developer.
Tatsch said previously the checks quantify the success of the concept.
“When those checks happen, it means we are all doing something right.”
Tatsch said in January 2024 that Hillwood has developed about 3.225 million square feet at AllianceFlorida.
That includes the two 1 million-square-foot centers for online retailers Amazon.com on about 86.5 acres and home-furnishings company Wayfair on 80 acres.