A 3-year-old startup is setting its sights on growth in Northeast Florida residential real estate.
“When we look at the building forecast, it is exceptional,” said Terry Tuten, CFO of Eagle View Windows, Inc.
With that backdrop, the company, which makes vinyl windows and doors, is more than quadrupling in size in an estimated $9 million move from Westside to North Jacksonville.
The move should allow it also to almost triple sales from about $3 million last year to nearly $9 million this year and to more than $15 million next year.
Eagle View’s primary business targets are builders, specifically members of the Northeast Florida Builders Association. It sells to those who construct homes, apartments and condos.
To accommodate the growth, the company is moving from about 17,000 square feet at 5465 Verna Blvd. into about 82,000 square feet at Jacksonville International Tradeport. The move should be completed in February.
Tuten said Eagle View makes an average of 80 windows a day, a number that will grow to a minimum of 200 a day after the move to larger space. The new state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment can boost it to 800 a day.
Tuten said there could be further expansion when Eagle View exceeds the capacity of the new facility.
The staff of 53, including about 10 administrative jobs, should expand by 20-25 people in the next few months. CEO William Myers said he expects to have 100 employees working there by the end of 2017, including the hires for Eagle View Installation Services Inc. That company was created in December.
“We will ramp up after that as our sales increase,” Tuten said. “We have a great sales forecast.”
If area construction trends continue on track, more single-family homes are on the way.
In Duval County alone, residential building permits rose 25 percent from 2014 to 2015. Among those, single-family permits jumped 11 percent, according to city records.
In Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties, single-family permits rose 11 percent over the year, according to NEFBA.
The 6,725 permits issued last year were more than double the number issued annually in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
While the number was the highest since 2007, it still was well below the 17,753 single-family permits issued in 2005.
Tuten said the company has several more avenues for expansion, including the remodeling and retrofit market; selling through major home-improvement chains; and expanding production into hurricane-rated windows. It also is considering production of different types of doors.
Eagle View set up the installation company to handle product installation and service, which it has been handling internally.
Eagle View Windows Inc. was created in July 2013 by Jack Dunham, a former sales manager of the former Jacksonville-based Kinco Ltd. window maker, and Paul Arsenault.
In July, Myers bought into the company as the largest shareholder. Eagle View’s owners are CEO Myers; Arsenault, the vice president; Dunham, the vice president of sales; and General Manager Kevin Spinks. All are directors.
Tuten said Eagle View is the only company making vinyl windows and doors in North Florida. Myers saw the market.
“He analyzed this and said, ‘if we do this on a larger scale, this will be a great opportunity businesswise and will provide the local builders a great product at an affordable price,’” Tuten said.
Tuten said he also will become an owner this year. His experience includes financial and tax experience with Enterprise Integration, CSX Technology, CSX Transportation and CSX Corp., among other companies.
The eagleviewwindows.com site says the company can build one window or a thousand, in any size or design.
Chris Dostie, president of Dostie Homes LLC, said Eagle View is his company’s preferred window supplier and installer for several reasons.
Eagle View makes the windows in Jacksonville and can meet Dostie Homes’ requirements for specific styles and sizes. “They are capable of meeting our needs and do great job. They make an excellent quality window,” he said.
The city is reviewing a permit application for almost $200,000 in tenant improvements for the 8,500 square feet of office space at the Tradeport building, whose address is 13340 International Parkway. The contractor is New Leaf Construction Inc., led by Arsenault’s brother, Lee Arsenault.
Myers said Eagle View will invest more than $9 million in the project, comprising $6 million in build-out, furniture, fixtures and equipment and a $3 million guarantee to the landlord for rent on the 10-year lease.
Eagle View is moving equipment into the building, which is owned by Evergreen Industrial Properties of Oakland, Calif.
Evergreen Industrial acquired the structure in May when it paid $37.15 million for eight Tradeport warehouse-distribution buildings, totaling more than 903,000 square feet of space on 64.7 acres at the Tradeport. It bought the property from Flagler Development.
Bobby Gatling and Nathan Rogers of CBRE Inc. represented the landlord in the lease negotiations with Eagle View. Glenn Palmer, executive vice president of Coldwell Banker Commercial Benchmark, represented Eagle View.
Palmer said the group considered other locations and counties, but the market offered few warehouse buildings that met the criteria sought by Eagle View Windows. He said the Tradeport building, formerly leased by the United States Postal Service, met the needs.
Palmer said Eagle View Windows is investing significant capital into creating a state-of-the-art office and customer showroom and also is investing a significant amount in new equipment.
Dostie, who is secretary and treasurer of NEFBA, said the outlook for new home construction is very positive, crediting continued low interest rates and room for development.
He said the climate for area economic development is strong, which attracts out-of-town companies to Northeast Florida. “That always feeds the new home market,” he said.
Eagle View’s contribution to economic development also is telling, Dostie said. “It says to me they believe in this market,” he said.
To Dostie, it means that Eagle View’s owners believe “they can build and create a product right here locally that creates local jobs and stimulates the local economy,” and also create products that can be sold in Northeast Florida and beyond.
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