Eagle LNG Partners LLC is asking the city for $23 million in incentives to begin construction on a long-planned liquid natural gas export facility in North Jacksonville.
The Houston-based company plans to build a $542 million complex on 200 acres along Zoo Parkway, according to a project summary sent Nov. 4 to City Chief Administrative Officer Brian Hughes from Office of Economic Development Executive Director Kirk Wendland.
The site is near JaxPort facilities along the St. Johns River.
According to the summary, Eagle LNG will invest $58 million in facilities and install about $484 million in manufacturing equipment at the facility.
Gas shipped from the site will be transported to Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands for power generation, according to Eagle LNG spokesperson and Dalton Agency President Michael Munz.
The facility also will fuel Eagle LNG marine customers globally and be used in U.S. domestic energy consumption.
The economic development office wants to offer Eagle LNG up to $23 million in a Recaptured Enhanced Value grant, which would refund 50% of the increase in the site’s property taxes the first 10 years the facility is in operation.
In exchange, Eagle LNG would create 12 jobs at the facility by Dec. 31, 2023, with an average wage of $85,000.
On Tuesday, the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee will consider the Office’s request to file legislation with City Council at its Nov. 26 meeting to approve the deal.
Munz said via email Friday construction for the project will begin by the end of June. The company expects to begin operations by the end of December 2023.
“There is an option for a one-year extension on the construction period to the end of 2024, if necessary,” Munz wrote. “At a cost that does not exceed the capped amount of the REV Grant.”
Eagle LNG operates a 200,000-gallon-per-day capacity plant in Maxville. The company’s logistics partner is Crowley Maritime Corp.
Development on the Zoo Parkway facility, first proposed in 2013, has been slow. Eagle LNG held open houses in January 2015 to gain area residents’ support.
At the time, the company was seeking approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency responsible for reviewing Eagle LNG import and export facilities. The commission holds public hearings as part of its regulatory process.
Eagle LNG officials hoped to begin construction by mid-2016 and open by early 2018.
A legislative fact sheet drafted by Wendland states that the incentives will offset “financial obligations the company took on as a result of unexpected delays by various federal government permitting agencies.”
The company says it’s considering another southeastern U.S. city to locate the export facility. Munz said all parties involved are under a nondisclosure agreement and could not talk about the second site under consideration.