Project Pineapple, previously identified as Bacardi USA, is a $10 million project that is underway in North Jacksonville now that the city issued a permit Aug. 24 for the warehouse shell construction.
The 351,520-square-foot build-to-suit project is in development on 26.8 acres at 3559 Port Jacksonville Parkway in the NorthPoint Industrial Park.
Arco Design/Build of Atlanta is the contractor for the shell building at a cost of $9.76 million, the permit shows. Arco also is the contractor for the foundation, which the city approved in April at $288,220.
Peter Anderson, vice president of new investments for NorthPoint Industrial Park developer Pattillo Industrial Real Estate, said April 15 a customer committed to lease the structure but he could not provide its identity.
Anderson said May 4 that work will begin the first of June. Completion is expected in the first quarter.
Broker Wayne Schuchts, principal with Avison Young in Miami, said May 3 that Bacardi, a rum bottler, will move its distribution function from one North Jacksonville development to NorthPoint.
Jacksonville-based Bacardi Bottling Corp. operates at 12200 N. Main St., 6 miles west of the NorthPoint facility.
It bottles Bacardi rum-branded products and employs more than 200 people.
Bacardi’s many rum flavors include pineapple.
Bacardi USA, the sister distribution company, has leased 292,000 square feet of warehouse space at One Imeson at 1 Imeson Park Blvd. in North Jacksonville for 20 years.
That operation is about 8.5 miles southwest of NorthPoint and 3 miles south of the bottling plant.
Bacardi spokespeople have not responded to several requests for comment.
In October, Bacardi Bottling Corp. Operations Center Director Darrin Mueller said the Jacksonville plant ships more than 8.6 million cases of rum each year.
Mueller said it was on track to exceed that by almost 1 million cases in 2020. Of that, 95% is shipped domestically.
Project Pineapple is shown on plans as an industrial build-to-suit, but there is no reference to the identity of the tenant.
The structure is Building 9. The building site plan shows a future expansion of 132,080 square feet, indicating a potential structure of 483,600.
Randall-Paulson Architects Inc. of Roswell, Georgia, is the architect.
Atlanta-based Stone Mountain Industrial Park Inc., a Pattillo affiliate, owns the 362-acre NorthPoint, which is a master-planned development at Alta Drive and Interstate 295. Building 9 is along Port Jacksonville Parkway near New Berlin Road.
Bermuda-based Bacardi Limited says it is the largest privately held spirits company in the world. It produces and markets internationally recognized spirits and wines.
The brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including Bacardi rum, Grey Goose vodka, Patron tequila, Dewar’s Scotch Whisky and more.
It was founded more than 159 years ago in Santiago de Cuba and employs more than 7,000 people, operates production facilities in 11 countries, and sells its brands in more than 170 countries.
Ladson Montgomery, senior vice president and principal of Newmark Phoenix Realty Group, said previously the 300,000 square feet at One Imeson would be available for lease starting in early fall 2022.