Mervis Industries Inc. filed a permit application for its new Westside operation at 7282 Commonwealth Ave. Stipe Construction Inc. is the contractor for the $365,550 project, shown as a metal building for office and warehouse space.
Plans show a 6,150-square-foot enclosed building, comprising 2,800 square feet for office use and 3,350 square feet of warehousing, along with another 1,500 square feet of unenclosed space.
The architect is David Haynes.
As the Daily Record reported in December, Brian Shell and Jason Finley, co-owners at GO Auto Recycling in Northwest Jacksonville at 12270 New Kings Road, bought that salvage yard 3 1/2 years ago, improving sales and boosting employment from four people to 30 people.
Shell said the next venture in West Jacksonville with partner Mervis Industries Inc. would create another 10-15 jobs in the first phase.
Mervis paid $2 million for 50 acres along Commonwealth Avenue, west of Interstate 295 and Pickettville Road.
"We've run out of room and we think this has a lot of potential," Shell said in December. "We needed additional facilities and that piece of property was zoned" for their use.
The New Kings Road operation encompasses 11 acres, records show.
Mervis bought the Commonwealth Avenue property Nov. 5 from Florida Rock Properties Inc. Site plans filed with the City and the St. Johns River Water Management District show a three-phase development on the property.
Shell said in December the Commonwealth site would be an auto-recycling operation that would employ up to 15 people in the first phase.
Mervis is an Illinois-based family-owned recycling company that buys and sells materials and operates in four states. President Adam Mervis previously told the Daily Record the company would not be putting its core business, a full-service scrap yard, on the site and referred questions to GO Auto Recycling.
"We have a real estate investment portion of our business. This for us is much more of a real estate investment rather than an operating business," he said.
Shell said he and Finley are the operating partners in the project.
"They were interested in expanding their line of recycling into the auto side," Shell said of Mervis. "Jason and I have run the business down here and have partnered with Mervis from the beginning on the GO Auto brand."
Shell has said the first phase at the new site represents a $4.5 million to $5 million investment, including the purchase price.
"There is a lot of opportunity for us," he said. "With a piece of land zoned heavy industrial, there are a lot of uses we can do in the recycling area. We wanted to find a piece of property with the room to do that."
Shell said GO Auto Recycling also will remain in operation along New Kings Road.
"Auto recycling in general is countercyclical," he said, explaining it is not necessarily affected by the economy.
"It's not discretionary that you wreck your car. You don't choose to have your motor go bad or damage your car," he said.
Shell said insurance covers a portion of vehicle damage, but people "are looking for an alternative to buy new parts."
Shell said he and Finley don't approach the business like a junkyard. "We use a lot of data and a lot of statistics," he said.
Shell cited the company's large inventory and its "significant" business with major repair facilities and dealerships in North Florida.
Site improvement documents show development of the first two phases will use 33.2 acres and the third phase will be 4.3 acres. The conservation area is shown as 12.5 acres for a total of 50 acres.
A closer look at the site improvement plans shows a first phase that includes the 7,650-square-foot enclosed and unenclosed space and a second phase with a 21,600-square-foot building. The bulk of the developable land consists of recycling and storage yards.
The New Kings Road site is about 9 miles north of the Commonwealth Avenue property.
The goautorecycling.com website says GO Auto Recycling offers recycled original equipment manufacturer auto parts, including engines, transmissions, auto body parts, sheet metal, truck beds, bed liners, wheels, seats, radios and new and used head lights, tail lamps and radiators.
GO Auto Recycling is part of Team PRP, which stands for premium recycled parts, a group of independent auto recyclers.
Shell, Finley, Adam Mervis and Michael Mervis are listed as managers in the articles of organization for Go Pull-It LLC, filed in September with the Florida Department of State. The mailing and street address for the limited liability company is shown as 12270 New Kings Road.
In May, Shell, Finley and manager Michael Stanley added Adam Mervis and Mervis 2006 LLC as managers to Green Oak Investments LLC, which does business as GO Auto Recycling.
Shell and Finley first applied in May 2009 to do business in Florida as Green Oak Investments LLC, listing the original date of organization as 2006 in Delaware. It listed the nature of business in Florida as auto parts and scrap metal.
According to mervis.com, William Mervis and his sons opened scrap yards in the late 1920s in Arcola, Ill., and Veedersburg, Ind. "Since then the scrap business has progressed from basic handling of iron, metals, hides, rags, and paper to the total recycling of many industrial byproducts," it said.
Mervis.com said the company has grown into a four-state network of 16 corporate divisions and eight affiliated companies, with operations in 12 cities throughout the Midwest and in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Jacksonville is not shown on the website.
"Throughout the nation the Mervis family has put new life into unused land and abandoned facilities, creating innovative ways to add services and avoid waste," the website says.
Mervis.com says the company "specializes in creating complete scrap management programs for our industrial customers."
It says its services range from in-plant training programs to the placement of recycling receptacles. Mervis uses in-plant hoppers, roll-offs, semitrailers and dump trailers to collect and remove scrap.
"Mervis stands ready as a truly full-service provider for iron, metal, plastics, fiber and all other recyclable products," it says, also saying it works with its large industrial customers to develop customized recycling programs for plastics, metals, electronics, fiber and used machinery and equipment.
"In meeting the specific requests of our industrial partners, we have often built new facilities, expanded into new regions, and reached new heights in state-of-the-art processing," it says.
Work continues toward Plastic2Oil plant
JBI Inc. of Niagara Falls, N.Y., says it continues to work toward a Plastic2Oil plant on RockTenn Corp. property in North Jacksonville.
JBI developed a system to recycle waste plastic into liquid fuels. More information is available at the plastic2oil.com website.
"In addition to the progress at the Niagara Falls location, the company continues to work on development of its second plant to be located in Jacksonville, Florida," says a news release issued Feb. 11.
"Currently, the company is evaluating engineering options to maximize feedstock throughput for processors that will be located at that site, in addition to site design and construction activities related to plant infrastructure," it says.
JBI said in the release that its third processor was being assembled at its Niagara Falls plant but because of fabrication delays, the company anticipates that the processor will not produce fuel until sometime in the second quarter.
"The company had previously expected to have this processor online during the first quarter of 2013," says the release.
"These delays will preclude the company from achieving cash-flow positive results during the first quarter of 2013, as previously communicated. The company intends to provide updated guidance in its upcoming annual report," it says.
JBI announced in January that it has raised $8.05 million in two sales of preferred stock, indicating its proposed Plastic2Oil plant at the RockTenn containerboard mill at 9469 Eastport Road, off Heckscher Drive, might be closer to development.
JBI also announced in January that the Securities and Exchange Commission approved settlement of a lawsuit against the company and its former CEO, John Bordynuik. If approved by the court, the proposed settlement "would fully resolve the dispute with the SEC evidenced by the lawsuit filed in January 2012," it said.
JBI said the lawsuit arises from the restatement of the company's financial statements for the periods that ended Sept. 30, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009.
The Daily Record reported in August plans were under review for a Plastic2Oil production plant to convert waste plastic into fuel oil. It is shown as a 5-acre project on part of the 241-acre site of the RockTenn Corp. Seminole containerboard mill, formerly known as Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.
As reported, preliminary site plans show a 9,360-square-foot module production pad with adjacent space for truck unloading; a 1,170-square-foot storage tank concrete area; a 900-square-foot fuel truck loading area; a cooling tower; and a 720-square-foot quality control testing laboratory trailer.
The plans show conveyors, three "premelts," three reactors and towers and condensers.
Twinkies could return to shelves
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Hostess Brands Inc. said it would seek court approval to sell its Twinkies and other cake brands to Apollo Global Management LLC and Metropoulos & Co. after no rival bidders challenged their $410 million offer. Evan Metropoulos said he hopes to quickly return Twinkies and other Hostess snacks to store shelves. Hostess bakeries were shut down in November after Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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