St. Johns County could soon be in line for a large industrial building, a common sight in Duval County to its north.
Graham & Co. LLC applied to the St. Johns River Water Management District for a permit to develop a 500,864-square-foot distribution center and stormwater management system.
The site is at 3900 Deerpark Blvd., west of Interstate 95 and north of Florida 207.
“We think it's a good location,” said Mike Graham, president of the Birmingham, Alabama-based company, which has a Jacksonville office.
England-Thims & Miller Inc. is the civil engineer.
On plans it is called the First Coast Distribution Center.
Bryan Bartlett, senior vice president and principal of Newmark Phoenix Realty Group, is the listing agent.
Bartlett said no tenant has been signed. Graham & Co. is preparing the site should a user be found.
It can be divided into space for a minimum 100,000-square-foot user.
A Newmark Phoenix Realty Group brochure is marketing the project as a St. Johns industrial land opportunity of 33.4 acres of industrial zoned land “in rapidly growing St. Johns County.”
It is shown for sale or for a build-to-suit project.
“We do see some bigger tenants in our marketplace and we want to be able to capitalize on it,” Bartlett said.
The brochure map shows the site, zoned for industrial light use, across I-95 from the St. Augustine Flea Market.
No investment estimate, development time frame or renderings are available.
Bartlett did not describe the building a speculative but said only that Graham is pulling permits “for an eventual 500,000-square-foot building.”
St. Johns County Director of Economic Development Melissa Glasgow said Tuesday she welcomed the project.
“I have been bugging them to build new industrial space for the last couple of years,” Glasgow said.
“We have a severe lack of industrial property and welcome new space. Our available space is practically zero and that is the number I am concerned about,” she said.
Industrial market reports show a 2% or lower vacancy in St. Johns County industrial space.
“This is a very good sign,” Glasgow said of the Graham project.
