Guy Preston and Seda Preston with Colliers International announced Dec. 16 they brokered the sale of 171 acres, entitled for 1.5 million square feet of development rights, to Becknell Industrial for $9 million.
The sale of the property in Westlake Industrial Park closed Dec. 12, they said.
Colliers represents Norfolk Southern, the owner of Westlake Industrial Park, in selling land tracts within the park.
The Prestons said Colliers was instrumental in supporting the underwriting process of Becknell Industrial.
The announcement said that before the purchase, Becknell invested due diligence to allow it to move quickly to clear and mass grade the site in the first quarter and pursue full permitting of a 477,000-square-foot facility expandable to 1.1 million square feet.
The Prestons said it is Becknell’s third land acquisition in the park. Becknell has developed a 185,000-square-foot distribution facility and is planning an additional 161,000-square-foot center on 36 acres it bought previously.
In October, the city issued a permit for Westlake Land Management to clear, excavate and grade the 171-acre site at a cost of $2.7 million.
Becknell Executive Vice President Dan Fogarty said previously that the Lyons, Illinois-based developer intended to apply for a building permit for a 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center at 13522 Pritchard Road in Westlake Industrial Park.
Becknell Industrial is one of several developers to propose a 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center in Jacksonville, meaning the market is heating up for large projects that typically create hundreds of jobs.
“We’re very emboldened by the activity,” Fogarty said previously. He estimates Becknell’s potential investment at more than $50 million.
Centers that size typically are e-commerce facilities that ship orders to consumers or are other types of fulfillment warehouses that send goods to retail stores and other brick-and-mortar customers.