The Mathis Report: Patriot Rail, Ceva Logistics on move

Railroad firm seeking more space; Ceva’s lease in Deerwood running out.


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Two Jacksonville office tenants are relocating around Southside.

Patriot Rail Co. LLC will move from the BBVA Compass Bank Building to the Waterview Office Park and CEVA Logistics is relocating from the Deerwood Park Center building to Baymeadows.

Patriot Rail to Waterview 

Jacksonville-based Patriot Rail Co. LLC will relocate its headquarters about a mile southeast from the BBVA Compass bank building at 10060 Skinner Lake Drive to the third floor of the Waterview II building at 10752 Deerwood Park Blvd.

CBRE Inc. Senior Vice President Oliver Barakat, who represents the Waterview Office Park, said Patriot Rail expects to occupy 27,467 square feet of space there late in the first quarter of 2019.

The city is reviewing a permit application for The Conlan Co. to renovate about 27,000 square feet on the third floor for Patriot Rail at an estimated cost of $600,000, although the amount will be determined.

Frapag Waterview Jax LLC owns the Waterview property. Patriot Rail will lease office space vacated by Jacksonville-based health care IT company Availity LLC , which moved to the Town Center One building.

Patriot Rail Co. LLC manages 12 short-line railroads in 14 states across the U.S. 

The company said Friday it was running out of capacity in its existing office because of growth and that it intends to move in April.

The company has 100 employees at the corporate office and 850 companywide. It has leased at the BBVA Compass building for almost five years.

Barakat said Patriot Rail has signage availability on the north face of the Waterview building and Patriot Rail said it plans to put its name on the structure.

Patriot Rail said the space it will lease is about the same size at both buildings, but the new offices will allow it to operate on one floor rather than among two.

Bruce Jackson, first vice president of CBRE, represents the BBVA Compass Bank building.

He said the 29,400 square feet of space on the third floor and about half of the second floor that Patriot Rail will vacate is being marketed.

Ceva Logistics to Baymeadows

CEVA Logistics wants to build-out about 19,000 square feet of office space in Baymeadows. 

The city is reviewing a building-permit application for CEVA at 8800 Baymeadows Way W. The application shows a $341,743 renovation of 18,791 square feet of space.

That is less than the 40,000 square feet it leases at Deerwood Center at 10751 Deerwood Park Blvd., a three-story, 99,000-square-foot office building acquired in 2016 by an affiliate of Jacksonville-based Ash Properties. 

CEVA has not returned calls and emails for comment.

Ash Properties Chief Operating Officer Randall Whitfield said CEVA’s lease is up at year-end. Whitfield said the space, primarily on the second floor, is available for lease.

The building was developed in 2002 for TNT Logistics North America, CEVA’s predecessor company in Jacksonville. 

TNT Logistics was sold in 2006 to affiliates of New York-based venture capitalists Apollo Management LP, which renamed it CEVA Logistics.

“In some form or fashion their operation has been there since the building was built,” Whitfield said.

CEVA Holdings LLC, based in the Netherlands, is a supply-chain management company. In the U.S., it provides freight management and logistics services, employing more than 9,100 people at 126 locations. 

CEVA Logistics opened its first Center of Logistics Excellence at the building in February 2013. At the time, a trade publication reported along with that center, CEVA had 250 employees at its Jacksonville facility.

CBRE Inc. Senior Vice President Oliver Barakat represents CEVA in the lease negotiations and confirmed the relocation. He said CEVA’s rentable area in Baymeadows is just above 20,000 square feet.

He said the move would take place after the build-out.

CBRE Vice President Billy Kuntz represents the landlord. CCP Commercial Real Estate of Virginia Beach, Virginia, bought the five-story, 191,000-square-foot Baymeadows building in April 2017.

 

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