You can’t build on it if you can’t get there.
With the goal to industrially develop up to 600 acres, the city seeks bids for design-build services to construct an entrance road to the Cecil Commerce Center mega-site in West Jacksonville.
The mega-site is property designated for large industrial development.
While the property is 600 acres gross, the city says the “prime 400-acre tract of land” is valued at $40 million, about $100,000 an acre, and is not accessible by vehicle.
The city procurement division advertised that bids are due by 2 p.m. Sept. 5. The scope of the work required of the chosen design-build firm includes final design, permitting and construction.
A pre-bid conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. Aug. 15 on the 10th floor of the Ed Ball Building at 214 N. Hogan St. It is not mandatory.
Cecil Commerce Center is south of Interstate 10 and west of the First Coast Expressway.
The mega-site is bordered by I-10 on the north, Cecil Commerce Center Parkway to the east, a utility corridor and future rail spur to the west and New World Avenue – now POW- MIA Memorial Parkway – to the south.
“In recent years, the City has been approached by multiple site selectors, representing large manufacturing companies, who were interested in the Cecil mega site,” says a description by the city Office of Economic Development.
Site selectors and other real estate professionals told the city that a “drivable path” to the site would increase the success of selling it, according to the office.
“Developing the subject 400-acre mega site could generate millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue and attract an end-user that would generate thousands of jobs,” it said.
City Council enacted Ordinance 2018-117 in March to appropriate a $6 million state Job Growth Grant to the city’s Capital Improvement Program to fund the road project.
The Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity awarded the grant to the city to fund construction of the 6,300-linear-foot, two-lane road with curb, gutters, a wide sidewalk, bike lane, drainage and lighting.
Construction, said the bill’s analysis, would make the property readily marketable to and developable by a company seeking a large site ready for a manufacturing plant, distribution center, or “similar high intensity, job-creating operation.”
The city would pay for the road construction and be reimbursed from the grant proceeds.
Road construction is required to begin before the end of 2018. The total project cost is $7.5 million for construction and an estimated $700,000 for wetlands mitigation credits.
In addition to the $6 million grant, the city also allocated $1.5 million from previous capital improvement programs and has capacity for the mitigation credits.
To illustrate the possible uses of the mega-site, jaxcecilcommercecenter.com shows two 2 million-square-foot manufacturing buildings separated by railroad tracks with a separate headquarters office and a training facility.
No name or type of industry is referenced.
The entire 1,500-acre mega-site was certified by CSX/McCallum Sweeney in 2006.
Mega-site certification by McCallum Sweeney Consulting of Greenville, South Carolina, is considered a significant step for marketing industrial properties, setting up standards that allow a user to be operational within 12 months.
Dallas-based Hillwood is the master developer at Cecil, where, among other major tenants, Amazon.com leases a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center along 103rd Street, south of the mega-site.
