Hillwood’s fourth-quarter report to the city says the project identified as Amazon.com received its foundation permit and construction should be completed by year-end 2021 at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
As the city’s master developer at the Westside business park, Dallas-based Hillwood is required to report quarterly activity.
The reporting period ended before the city approved construction March 17 for the Amazon.com sortation center at a cost of $40.4 million.
The Conlan Co. is the contractor for that and for the foundation construction permit pulled Jan. 22 at a cost of $2.7 million.
The city issued a permit Nov. 11 for W. Gardner LLC of Jacksonville to conduct site clearing, pine harvesting, pond creation and tree removal at the address at a cost of $6.4 million.
Hillwood is the owner of the 278,237-square-foot center in development at 13450 Waterworks St. on Parcel F at southwest POW-MIA Memorial Parkway and Waterworks Street.
In its report for the October-December quarter, Hillwood said the project would lease a 280,000-square-foot build-to-suit facility.
The year-end report attributed Amazon’s identity to “the Jacksonville business press,” although Hillwood Executive Vice President Dan Tatsch confirmed the company Jan. 30.
“I can confirm we have signed a lease with Amazon for that facility,” he said.
He said Hillwood targeted the third or fourth quarter of 2021 for completion of the building, which will serve as a sortation center.
Amazon.com says sortation centers are “midmile” delivery centers in which the company sorts customer orders by ZIP codes before handing off to delivery partners for final delivery.
Plans show the AllianceFlorida center will have outbound cross-dock doors. Tatsch said he has heard the Amazon facility referred to as an outbound cross-dock.
Cross-docking refers to unloading the goods from inbound trucks and directly reloading them onto outbound trucks.
Hillwood said in the quarterly report the project received wetlands and stormwater permits from the St. Johns River Water Management District in October and the general contractor was given notice to proceed with site clearing.
Hillwood’s civil consultants submitted the 10-set permit review document at the end of September, also approved by the city by year-end.
The project was identified on plans as JAX9, a code name used by the Seattle-based online retailer.
A document by utility JEA showed the center could create about 260 jobs.
Amazon already operates a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in AllianceFlorida that opened in October 2017 at 13333 103rd St.
Hillwood developed it and sold it in early 2018 to Gramercy Property Trust Inc. of New York for almost $95.5 million.
Amazon opened its first area sortation center, called JAX5, in 240,000 square feet at Westside Industrial Park.
Amazon has opened or indicated plans to operate at least 12 locations in the area, including three large fulfillment centers; six delivery stations; a heavy bulk-freight center; and the two sortation centers.
Hillwood also told the city that during the fourth quarter it:
• Received and responded in early December to a preliminary inquiry from a prospect interested in acquiring a portion of Parcel Q, at southwest Normandy Boulevard and POW-MIA Memorial Parkway, to develop a retail facility.
• Received and responded to an initial inquiry from a prospect interested in buying 10-15 acres for construction of a 300,000-square-foot distribution facility.
• Continued discussions that started in May with a prospect interested in leasing about 200,000 square feet of industrial space. The prospect initially focused on Parcel P at northeast Normandy Boulevard and POW-MIA Memorial Parkway but now is evaluating other sites in AllianceFlorida,
Hillwood won a competitive bid in 2009 to become the master developer of the 4,474-acre Cecil Commerce Center, which is a portion of the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field owned by the city.
Tatsch said previously the city renewed Hillwood’s contract in September.
