by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Workspace: Cecil Commerce Center
If you live in Northeast Florida, it’s a pretty safe bet you have heard of Cecil Commerce Center.
But, what do you really know about it? What side of town is it on? What’s there? Who oversees it? You’ve heard there’s an airport right? It used to be Cecil Field, right?
In order:
Cecil Commerce Center is on the Westside and is divided by Normandy Boulevard.
It encompasses 17,000 acres, of which 8,300 belong to the City/Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, 2,200 acres are City parks space, 640 acres belong to Clay County and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority controls another 6,600. The rest is wetlands.
Yes, there’s an airport and JAA oversees it, but it’s used by the Navy and Coast Guard.
It was Cecil Field seven years ago before the Department of Defense conducted its Base Realignment and Closure exercise. Cecil was closed as a Navy base and deeded to the City.
Today, it’s up to Lindsey Ballas and Ed Randolph of the JEDC to literally show and tell the world what’s at Cecil and how to set up shop in Jacksonville.
Boeing, for example, has established a presence at Cecil. The airplane manufacturer leases four of Cecil’s 57 parcels/buildings.
“They love Cecil and they want to keep expanding,” said Ballas, who’s chief of business development for the JEDC.
There’s also a public golf course on the property and Randolph says the course is OK, but the prices can’t be beat.
“Actually, it’s pretty busy,” said Randolph, business development coordinator for the JEDC. “It’s $25 and they have dollar beers.”
There’s much more at Cecil.
A former Navy hospital is used by the JSO SWAT team for tactical training.
There’s a fuselage of a plane that’s used to practice hostage situations.
There are several smaller buildings with anywhere from 8,000 to 15,000 square feet of space. Some are in better condition than others, but many could be used quickly.
There’s old Navy housing that’s now used by retirees. The housing is full and in demand.
There are two major runways controlled by JAA. The Navy still uses them as does the Coast Guard. Cecil Field played a major role during the Super Bowl in 2005.
And, there are hundreds and hundreds of acres of open land.
Ballas and Randolph both said Cecil can be an easy sell for several reasons. The infrastructure is in place, there is land available, buildings already exist and the commerce center is near major highways, something imperative to a company looking to manufacture and distribute goods.
“It really is an excellent place for industrial development. We also have the only megasite (723 acres) in the state. There is only one owner and there are utilities to the site,” said Ballas.
“Since we applied all the money on infrastructure to the concurrency rights, the City is like a private developer,” said Randolph, adding the City has spent $57 million on infrastructure. “Why not reap the benefits?”
356-2466