GE Oil & Gas invites job applicants to visit ge-energy.com/jacksonville.jsp to apply for positions at the company’s new Cecil Commerce Center factory, which will make control valves.
As of Thursday morning, the site listed 15 positions, such as engineers, engineering specialists and technicians as well as materials manager, materials technical adviser and environmental, health and safety leader.
“We are making good progress at the new facility in Jacksonville,” said spokeswoman Lindsey Benton.
GE Oil & Gas, which is moving into the building this month, must create 35 jobs by year-end and expects to hire 100 people within the first year. Its incentives agreement with the city and state requires it to hire 500 people by the end of 2016.
GE Oil & Gas describes the Jacksonville plant as a “world-class advanced manufacturing facility where you’ll find endless learning opportunities, a culture committed to driving innovation, and state-of-the-art amenities like next-generation virtual meeting technology and collaborative work spaces.”
Crocker buys more Freedom property
Boca Raton-based Crocker Partners bought another 15.9 acres at Freedom Commerce
Centre, where it acquired 54 acres in December 2012.
Crocker paid $1 million Friday for eight parcels, of which three comprise 11.6 acres of vacant commercial property. Those parcels are assessed at $1.73 million by the Duval County Property Appraiser. The remaining five parcels are wasteland, swamp and conservation.
All are along Freedom Commerce Parkway or Baymeadows Road.
Crocker bought the property from West Palm Beach-based FCC Partners LP Ltd., affiliated with Goodman Properties Inc. Records show most of the parcels are part of a $13.8 million acquisition by Goodman in 2000.
Freedom Commerce Centre is at southwest Baymeadows Road and Interstate 95. The business park sits between Philips Highway and I-95.
Crocker Partners has not commented about the purchase, but it has been taking on a higher Jacksonville profile.
Crocker Partners has renamed Freedom Commerce Centre as “Prominence” and is renovating the property. Its 2012 acquisition included seven buildings totaling 752,154 square feet of office space.
A new entrance monument, landscaping and parking upgrades also are in progress.
The park is led by tenants such as Chase Bank, Voya Financial and InComm, a prepaid product and transaction services company. Prominence also is a finalist for the 226,000-square-foot Citizens Property Insurance Corp. consolidated Jacksonville operations center.
In September, Crocker Partners announced that in a joint venture with Investcorp, the two companies paid $133.2 million for 12 buildings of office and industrial space in the Flagler Center business park in South Jacksonville.
With that acquisition, Crocker Partners owns 2.1 million square feet of space in Jacksonville.
Crocker Partners said then that Jacksonville is one of the nation’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas and ranks second in the southeastern U.S. for growth in office-using employment since 2009.
Crocker Partners’ portfolio total more than 6 million square feet in the southeastern U.S. and Texas, representing $1.4 billion in transactions.
Brooks Rehabilitation to buy Orange Park site
Jacksonville-based Brooks Rehabilitation said Wednesday it is finalizing the purchase of 3.25 acres in Orange Park for an outpatient therapy center to treat adults and children.
The company wants to complete the deal by the end of the year.
The property is owned by Orange Park Kennel Club and was designed as overflow parking, according to a St. Johns River Water Management District application.
The kennel club is operated by bestbet Poker, Simulcast and Racing.
Bestbet President Jamie Shelton said in a news release that when the company decided to sell the site at U.S. 17 and Wells Road, “we wanted to make sure we were thoughtful in who would call Orange Park home.”
“Brooks Rehabilitation has been serving the northeast Florida community for more than 40 years and they have a stellar tradition of reaching beyond their walls and being strong civic partners where they operate,” Shelton said in a news release.
The Brooks Rehabilitation side is west of U.S. 17 and the kennel club is on the east side, Water Management District plans show.
Brooks Rehabilitation said the 10,000-square-foot flagship site will expand the physical, occupational and speech therapy services Brooks offers in the area and will feature separate adult and pediatric therapy gyms along with private treatment rooms.
Brooks said the facility will house the Clay County offices for Brooks Home Care, one of the region’s largest home health care agencies.
The proposed facility also will feature a second Brooks Neuro Recovery Center. The first is at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital at 3599 University Blvd. S. in Jacksonville. Brooks said it is the only facility of its kind in Northeast Florida and one of only two in the state.
Michael Spigel, Brooks Rehabilitation president and COO, said the Orange Park facility will allow Brooks to serve patients recovering from a neurological injury or illness, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, “to help them achieve their highest level of recovery and participation in life.”
$6.7M mortgage issued for Newman Housing
First Florida Integrity Bank issued a $6.72 million mortgage Friday to NSHF Jacksonville LLC, the owner of the Newman Student Housing Fund project under development near the University of North Florida.
First Florida Integrity Bank is based in Naples. Newman Student Housing Fund is based in Dallas.
The Diocese of St. Augustine broke ground Aug. 26 on the faith-based project at 11291 Alumni Way near the University of North Florida.
The multiphase project is planned on 6.43 acres. Its first phase is a 204-bed, three-story facility on about half the site. It will provide 69 apartment units for students and three for resident assistants.
The city approved a building permit Oct. 3 for Certified General Contractors Inc. to provide site development and construction at a job cost of $6.15 million. Construction is expected to be completed next fall.
The building is open to all faiths. The ministry is provided by the Catholic Church but not all programs are Catholic specific.
The community will join the Catholic Student Center owned by the diocese on the same property.
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