By Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
A recent Request for Proposal for a master developer of the 4,499 plus acres of City owned property at Cecil Commerce Center could mean big things for area Realtors.
“The development will be an enormous catalyst to the development of the Westside and will ultimately increase the value of residential property in the area,” said Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
The RFP closed on March 13 and the staff of the JEDC is reviewing the proposals.
“The site is ideal for manufacturing, industrial-related and supply chain logistics end users,” said Barton. “The development timing of Cecil Commerce Center needs to capitalize on upcoming Jacksonville Port Authority expansion plans and its subsequent economic impacts for the community. Clearly, Cecil Commerce Center is positioned to be a world-class distribution and logistics center with market dominance and a critical mass of factors converging in its favor.
“Extensive site due diligence, permitting and core infrastructure investment has been performed by several public sector agencies. These efforts and resulting entitlements have better positioned the property for development opportunities and should serve to expedite transfer to a private sector development partner.”
Barton said the decision to issue an RFP was driven by the need to capitalize on market momentum created by the Port Authority and leverage the experience and financial resources of a private developer that will bring the property to shovel-ready status thereby attracting quality end users and higher wage jobs to Cecil.
The JEDC wants to establish a business relationship with a master developer with sufficient experience and financial capacity to execute a long term development vision for the property.
In addition, they want to create favorable conditions for the master developer to recruit end users to Cecil Commerce Center bringing with them as many higher wage jobs in the manufacturing, supply chain logistics, and other industrial users, as possible.
“Our goal is to create a world class commerce center to complement the multi-modal infrastructure indigenous to Jacksonville,” said Barton. “We also want to maximize the value of the property for the taxpayers through private capital investment and create growing ad valorem base for the City by privatizing the ownership and accelerating the development of the property.”
There is a lot going on already at Cecil Commerce Center and more is to come.
“The U.S. Coast Guard has recently renovated its 32,000-square-foot building and added 150 new personnel to its drug interdiction operation at Cecil,” said Barton. “Overall annual payroll for the operation is approximately $12 million.”
In addition, Barton said that Alenia North America has started construction on a $65 million final assembly and delivery center for the C-27J Spartan cargo plane. The center will add 300 new jobs to the local market. The company also expects to invest approximately $42 million in new, private capital for manufacturing equipment, technology, infrastructure and furniture.
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations recently purchased 63.3 acres in Cecil Commerce Center North and constructed a 1-million-square-foot distribution center. The site will employ 250 and represents a private capital investment of $44 million.
The new Cecil Commerce Center Parkway and I-10 interchange is underway and is expected to be completed by this fall. This $60.8 million project will provide direct access to Cecil Commerce Center.
Florida State College at Jacksonville recently completed phase one of a new, 44,000-square-foot center in Cecil Commerce Center North. The new campus offers general education courses.
What will the redevelopment mean to the community?
“The JEDC is evaluating proposals from potential master developers in hopes to transfer approximately 4,500 acres to the private sector and realize the community’s vision of a premier industrial employment center, which would be home to industrial, supply chain logistics and manufacturing industries,” said Barton. “JEDC is working to deliver on this vision and is actively negotiating with new companies to the site even through this process.”
The future plans will have a huge impact on the surrounding community, interested homebuyers and the Realtors that serve that community.
“Clearly the increase in industry will make the surrounding residential properties more valuable, as people will want to live near where they work,” said Barton. “The JEDC is actively recruiting higher paying jobs at Cecil in order to stimulate the economic development of the Westside.”
Barton said a rough estimate on the fully developed value is over $1 billion. It will create more than 30,000 jobs and stimulate the Westside economy.