By Drew Dixon, Contributing Writer
A 62,880-square-foot Southside Jacksonville building that served as a financial services products center will undergo a major overhaul for a seafood company.
Beacon Dock Holding LLC paid $3.8 million for the property at 7357 Digital Circle in Flagler Center.
Beacon Dock manager Mike Eddy, owner of Beacon Fisheries Inc., said he’ll relocate his headquarters offices from leased space on Atlantic Boulevard near Hodges Boulevard to the complex on the Southside.
“It just worked out for us to get in a lot sooner than it would to build from scratch and it’s a good location,” Eddy said Wednesday.
Beacon Dock Holding bought the property June 4 from Source One Direct Inc., the deed shows. It was recorded Thursday with the Duval County Clerk of Courts.
Eddy said 40 to 50 employees would be relocated upon the move, likely in the spring, and 25 to 30 would be added in a few years.
He said the building will provide the ability to expand “and do some things that we’re not able to do right now.”
In addition to the headquarters, Eddy said he wants to add industrial freezers to handle wholesale stocks of seafood for the Fisherman’s Dock company that specializes in retail sales for clients such as restaurants. It operates in Mandarin, Orange Park and Ponte Vedra.
It also operates some wholesale facilities along Atlantic Boulevard, while its main distribution center will remain open in Miami.
That means the Flagler Center building will have to undergo substantial renovations to handle the heavy seafood storage equipment.
The building, developed in 2005, previously was home to financial services operations.
Source One Direct, a subsidiary of Gemalto Inc., acquired the facility in late 2014 from Citicorp Credit Services Inc. (USA) to service credit and debit card operations. It closed and laid off about 170 people in 2017.
Source One provided credit and debit card personalization at the facility, which was built for light manufacturing.
Tyler Saldutti, CEO of Prime Realty who brokered the property purchase for Eddy, said it is an unusual transition from credit company use to a fishery.
But it works for Beacon Fisheries.
“They’re a family-owned, Jacksonville-based company. So it’s Mike Eddy and his three sons in the business,” Saldutti said. “It’s just a great family business story.”
Saldutti said the city and Flagler Center were cooperative to make the deal happen.
“It’s a big win for Beacon Fisheries and it’s a big win for the city,” Saldutti said. “They’re making a big commitment to the Jacksonville business community. You know what the purchase price is. Well, the construction cost I think is going to be twice that.”
Eddy acknowledged there’s some work to do on the facility, but it will serve as a sign of significant growth, especially for the Fisherman’s Dock wing of his business.
“This plant will allow us to do value-added and processing and allow us to grow the Fisherman’s Dock company, which is local. Beacon is a national seafood distributor,” Eddy said.
He said Fisherman’s Dock wholesales to restaurants and the new building will allow it to expand. He declined to disclose annual sales of the privately held company.
Beacon Fisheries was founded in 1996 to import and distribute seafood.
