Project Cart would bring 40 jobs to town

Wholesale food and goods distributor seeking $40,000 grant.


A Comfort Inn & Suites is planned along Parramore Road across from the new Costco store.
A Comfort Inn & Suites is planned along Parramore Road across from the new Costco store.
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Project Cart, an unidentified wholesale food and goods distributor, proposes to add about 40 positions in Northwest Jacksonville that it would relocate from another corporate location.

It proposes investing about $200,000 in equipment and $200,000 in renovations to its building to accommodate the new jobs.

The Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund Advisory Board staff recommends using the Economically Distressed Area Targeted Industry Program Grant for up to $40,000 to assist the company.

That sum represents a grant of $1,000 per new employee that would be disbursed over four years.

The city will require that at least 20 percent of the new employees – eight – be residents of Northwest Jacksonville and that the average wage be at least $30,100 to qualify for the grant.

The advisory board has not voted.

Project Cart is described as a wholesale distributor of food and grocery store items with a presence in Northwest Jacksonville and numerous other states.

Distribution companies, such as Cart, qualify as a targeted business by the state and the city.

The expansion involves the relocation of about 40 jobs from one of Cart’s other locations. The warehouse positions include item selectors and related support personnel, such as unloaders and batchers.

“Batch picking” is filling more than one order at a time.

The project description matches Sysco Food Services Jacksonville Inc. at 1501 Lewis Industrial Drive.

Sysco has another facility at 3100 Hilton St. in Northwest Jacksonville.

Houston-based Sysco calls itself a global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, health care and educational facilities, hotels and other customers who prepare meals away from home. 

Its products include equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. 

Sysco’s corporate spokeswoman did not return a call or email for comment.

Sysco employs more than 65,000 people and operates about 300 distribution facilities worldwide and serves more than 500,000 customer locations. It generated sales more than $55 billion for fiscal 2017, which ended July 1.

Comfort Inn & Suites planned near new Costco Wholesale

The St. Johns River Water Management District is reviewing an application for construction of a four-story Comfort Inn & Suites on 1.61 acres along Parramore Road near the new Costco in Southwest Jacksonville.

The development area is called Collins Town Center on plans.

CR 3 Hospitality is the developer. It is based at the Country Inn & Suites at Interstate 295 and Youngerman Circle.

The Comfort Inn & Suites site is along Parramore Road on the Interstate 295 site. Costco is on the opposite side of Parramore. Plans show the hotel will be up to 89 rooms and there is a pool.

Summer Classics applies for Certificate of Use in LaVilla

Summer Classics Home applied for a Certificate of Use for 6,000 square feet at 1104 W. Adams St. in LaVilla.

The city issued a permit in December for McDaniel Contractors Inc. to modify the exterior of the La Villa building it sold to Summer Classics, a national manufacturer and retailer of high-end outdoor furniture.

The Birmingham, Alabama based-company bought the 12,000-square-foot building for $1.2 million to set up a retail showroom and warehouse. It wants to open this spring.

Olive Garden to be remodeled in Argyle

The city approved a permit for an almost $480,000 renovation for the Olive Garden Italian Kitchen at 6050 Youngerman Circle in Southwest Jacksonville at Argyle Village.

Coastal Reconstruction Group Inc. of Longwood is the contractor for the project, which includes the exterior and interior remodeling and refurbishment of the bar, lobby and dining areas.

The work includes new finishes, carpet, ceiling materials, window coverings, furniture, décor, cabinetry and lighting replacement.

It also includes new paint around the building and a new tower feature.

 

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