Lake Washington Partners proposes to develop a large cross-dock facility at along New Kings Road in Northwest Jacksonville next to a distribution center it developed in 2008.
President Jordan Lott said Seattle-based Lake Washington Partners, which owns projects in eight states, works to maximize construction at optimal times within the market.
“We feel Jacksonville is primed for this type of development right now,” Lott said.
Lott noted Jacksonville’s tight industrial market and the area’s recognition by Forbes magazine this year as the fifth fastest-growing city in the country.
The Northeast Florida industrial vacancy rate reached 5 percent or below at the end of the third quarter, real estate reports show.
The city issued a Concurrency Reservation Certificate on Tuesday for a 373,650-square-foot cross-dock distribution center on almost 25 acres at 10940 New Kings Road, north of Interstate 295. Lake Washington Partners bought the land in 2012.
Records show Lake Washington Partners bought the adjacent 27.2-acre site in 2008 and developed the SanMar Distribution Center, which distributes clothing.
A plan filed with the concurrency application shows that as a 532,000-square-foot center, although property records and the 2008 building permit list it larger.
J&J Jacksonville LLC, which owns the SanMar center, was registered with the state in 2007. J&J New Kings Road LLC, owner of the site to be developed, was registered in 2012.
Cross-docking is a logistics practice of unloading products from an incoming truck and immediately reloading into outbound trucks or trailers. For example, it can move products from a manufacturer directly to the customer with minimal handling and time.
PLS Logistics Services, a Pennsylvania-based logistics management company, describes a cross-docking facility as more of a sorting center that requires much less storage space than a distribution center. Goods often spend less than a day in the terminal.
PLS Logistics says the industries that benefit the most from cross-docking are perishable goods, foods and beverages; inbound supplier components and raw materials; and packed and sorted products and parcels.
“Cross-docking is cost-effective for a company with high-volume shipments and substantial transportation needs — otherwise, shipping won’t be smooth or fast,” it says.
It explains that cross-docking requires a heavy investment in automation, visibility, outbound and inbound logistics.
Spokeswoman Katie Michals said there is no executed lease for the new facility, so the project will be built on a speculative basis.
Lake Washington Partners will oversee project development.
It will provide a 36-foot clear height and use green building practices, including high-efficiency fluorescent LED bulbs and motion detectors.
Ohio-based ATA Beilharz Architects LLC is the project architect and Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. in Jacksonville is the civil engineer. No contractor has been selected.
Lake Washington Partners bought the site and applied for the certificate as J&J New Kings Road LLC. It is based in Issaquah, Washington.
The privately owned company declined to estimate its investment in the project. At an average $50 a square foot for such developments, the construction cost could reach $18.7 million.
Lake Washington Partners, founded by Lott, owns 8 million square feet of industrial and Class A office real estate in eight states — Florida, Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Washington — with plans to invest in a ninth. Michals said that deal will be announced next year.
In February, Forbes ranked Jacksonville high on its list of fastest-growing cities based on 2016 and projected 2017 growth in population, jobs, wages, home prices and “gross metro product,” a measure of the value of the goods and services produced in an area.
