Dynarex Corp., based in Orangeburg, N.Y., has expanded into Jacksonville with a West Jacksonville warehouse to distribute medical products.
The City approved a building permit Monday for installation of a rack storage system at the warehouse in the Westside Distribution Center at 2003 N. Ellis Road. The job cost is $150,000. The permit shows an enclosed area of 49,310 square feet.
Dynarex spokesman John Burns said Thursday the warehouse opened in March and the company hired six employees, “with plans to expand further.”
A Dynarex news release reports that the Jacksonville location is its fourth regional warehouse. The four centers comprise 300,000 square feet of space for shipping and warehousing.
The Jacksonville warehouse serves the Southeast region of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and parts of Alabama.
Dynarex said the Jacksonville warehouse, at more than 52,000 square feet in size, will become a major shipping point for the Dynarex Southeast regional distributor partners.
The Dynarex.com website shows the corporate headquarters and a warehouse in New York and warehouses in Ada, Ohio, and Pocahontas, Ark. The website shows “Dynarex Coming Soon to Jacksonville FL” at 2001-2003 N. Ellis Road.
The website shows that Dynarex was established in 1967 and is a manufacturer of disposable medical products.
Dynarex works with distributors nationwide as well as in Canada, Europe and South America and its manufacturing facilities are worldwide, the website shows.
Its product categories include wound care, antiseptic, personal protection, patient care, instrument care, diagnostics, ointments and creams, urological, first aid and more.
Dynarex said it bought some assets from Tillotson Healthcare in 2003. Tillotson makes hand-coverings and produces gloves used in the industry. Dynarex said it continues to develop new Dynarex and Tillotson branded gloves.
The Jacksonville warehouse property is owned by EastGroup Properties LP, according to Duval County property records.
The project is in the area’s largest industrial market. Westside Jacksonville carries an inventory of almost 46 million square feet of industrial space, according to the Cushman & Wakefield real estate company.
The overall industrial vacancy rate as of March in West Jacksonville was 8 percent, compared to about 11 percent in Southside, the second largest submarket with inventory of 23 million square feet, and the 21 percent vacancy rate among the 20 million square feet of space in North Jacksonville, Cushman & Wakefield reported.
The overall industrial vacancy rate in the Jacksonville area was 11.1 percent, it said.
However, Cushman & Wakefield reported overall “negative absorption,” meaning that more space became available for lease during the quarter than the amount of space that was leased.
Cushman & Wakefield said the overall area negative absorption of 66,690 square feet of industrial space in the area of Jacksonville, the Beaches and Clay and St. Johns counties was the “first return to negative territory” in two years.
The company projects increased tenant activity this year as consumer demand rises, meaning a greater need for companies to lease or buy space for manufacturing and distribution of consumer goods.
Cushman & Wakefield predicts modest leasing activity until the end of the year, when it expects a more significant leasing volume.
Meanwhile, the CBRE real estate company reported that it found the Jacksonville area industrial vacancy at 11.5 percent, higher than the state rate of 9.5 percent.
It also reported a negative absorption, but at 27,310 square feet that it said was driven by the downsizing of Hunter Fan by 30,000 square feet in the Southside market.
Gordon Steadman, president of the NAIOP commercial and industrial real estate group, said the Dynarex deal signals a healthier market.
“Anytime NAIOP sees a transaction of this size and quality, it is a good sign for the Northeast Florida market,” said Steadman, vice president of development at Elkins Constructors.
“Over the last four to five years, the absorption rate for space has been very slow. In the early to mid-2000s, the industrial market geared up for port-related activities with little payoff due to the economy,” he said.
Steadman said that the resolution of the Mile Point navigational hindrance to Jacksonville’s port will help the market, allowing larger ships to reach the port terminals more easily and for longer periods.
“As we get closer to eliminating Mile Point and to an economic upturn, the existing space should be absorbed and we can expect an opportunity for future development,” he said.
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1Q industrial leases
Cushman & Wakefield reported manufacturing and warehouse-distribution leases for the first quarter of January-March. Southeastern Aluminum Products, which completed a sale-leaseback, is a manufacturer. The others were warehouse-distribution deals.
| Address | Market | Tenant | Square feet |
| 4925 Bulls Bay Highway | Westside | Southeastern Aluminum Products | 196,811 |
| Westside Industrial Park, Building 300 | Westside | Kraft Foods (renewal) | 183,500 |
| 1707 Huron St. | Westside | Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (renewal) | 107,000 |
| 5061 Shawland Road | Westside | Advance Quality Parts | 30,150 |
| 1708 Marshall St. | Talleyrand/Downtown | Intertek | 24,356 |
| Tradeport Distribution Center II | Northside | Southern Ionics | 21,105 |
| 2501 Lloyd Road | Westside | IFCO Systems | 20,610 |
| 1446 Haines St. | Downtown | UniFirst Corp. | 17,114 |
Source: Cushman & Wakefield