Foundry Commercial and Barings are staking an industrial claim in St. Johns County with their proposed IGP/95 Logistics Park at World Commerce Center.
The almost 43-acre site is off Interstate 95 about 2.3 miles southwest of Buc-ee’s. It’s on the east side of International Golf Parkway across from Tocoi Creek High School.
“We felt like St. Johns County, with a growing population and a need for services in and around the area, is underserved,” said Mark Scott, Foundry Commercial partner in Jacksonville.
“There is a need there that presently is served in Duval County.”
TR WCC Property Owner LLC, in care of Barings LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, paid almost $12.95 million for 42.47 acres in a deed dated Aug. 31, 2022.
St. Johns County Property Appraiser shows TR WCC bought the land from World Commerce Center LLP, led by Steinemann-Wolfe LLC of Jacksonville.
Scott expects completion in the second quarter of 2024 and is leasing space to tenants in advance.
Scott announced the project Aug. 1 at the Bisnow-hosted Jacksonville panel at the Southbank Hotel Jacksonville Riverwalk about “Building the Future.”
Bisnow hosts events and provides news to the commercial real estate industry, operating in more than 50 markets across the U.S., Canada, the UK and Ireland.
Orlando-based Foundry is a real estate company with 11 offices in the Southeast, including in Jacksonville, and in California. Barings is an international real estate investment manager.
They plan a 509,900-square-foot park comprising three buildings:
• The 193,600-square-foot Building 100 with two 2,000-square-foot speculative offices.
• The 205,700-square-foot Building 200 with two 2,450-square-foot speculative offices.
• The 110,600-square-foot Building 300 with two 2,454-square-foot speculative offices.
Foundry and Barings are marketing IGP/95 as a light industrial park with dock high doors, intermediary ramps and speculative offices so the space is available quickly for tenants.
Scott said he anticipates the buildings will be multitenant, but “we have no problem leasing a whole building to a single tenant.”
He said the buildings would be divided to accommodate tenants of 30,000 to 35,000 square feet and up.
He said the industrial vacancy rate is about 2% in the St. Johns County area, which has not seen the warehouse growth that has taken place in Duval County.
Scott said the buildings will serve businesses in the area, including those that provide delivery services to residents. “We feel there is going to a need there.”
Scott and Senior Associate John Cole comprise the leasing team.
It is the second joint project in Jacksonville for Foundry and Barings.
The city of Jacksonville issued a permit July 19 for Dana B. Kenyon Co. to build the 183,249-square-foot Butler 95 Logistics Center at a project cost of $8.85 million.
Foundry Commercial and Barings are developing the warehouse at 8332 Cypress Plaza Drive at Baymeadows Way.
The city issued the foundation permit April 28 at a cost of almost $1.83 million.
The 13.14-acre site is south of Butler Boulevard between Philips Highway and Interstate 95.
Foundrycommercial.com says the building will be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.
Scott said Aug. 1 no tenants have been signed, “but we have interest.”
“Designed with today’s logistics users in mind, the park is located in the Butler Corridor on Jacksonville’s Southside. Dock high doors, intermediary ramps, and spec offices are all delivered with shell for fast tenant occupancy options,” says the website.
C4 Architecture LLC of Orlando is the architect.
“Foundry is developing the building because there is a need for new modern warehouse space on the south side of Jacksonville,” Scott said previously.
He said there has been little new warehouse construction for 20 years on the Southside, where the industrial vacancy rate is a tight 2%.
Scott said the speculative project could accommodate up to five tenants.
He said there are companies that need additional space because they are operating inefficiently among several locations.
Scott said tenants could be any company that needs warehouse space, such as those that are ancillary or support uses for other industries in the area like building supplies and food distribution.
BCBF Cypress Plaza LLC of Orlando bought the property Sept. 7, 2022, for $3.75 million.
The LLC is housed with Foundry Commercial.
Barings is a $347 billion global investment manager across public and private fixed-income, real estate and specialist equity markets.
It is a subsidiary of MassMutual and has investment professionals in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. is based in Springfield, Massachusetts.