The city issued a permit Aug. 11 for The Conlan Co. to build Ring Power Corp.’s manufacturing facility for its Phoenix Products subsidiary in North Jacksonville at a project cost of $24 million.
Conlan of Jacksonville will construct the 231,467-square-foot Building 2, also called Building 600, at 1511 Zoo Parkway in the Imeson Park South business park.
Jacksonville-based England, Thims & Miller Inc. is the civil engineer. POH+W Architects of Alpharetta, Georgia, is the architect.
Plans call for a build-to-suit concrete tilt-wall light industrial warehouse that includes about 20,000 square feet of office space and two remote restrooms.
Through JI IPS Land LLC, Imeson Park South developer VanTrust Real Estate LLC sold the land May 8 to St. Augustine-based heavy equipment dealer Ring Power for $7 million.
That LLC is listed as the owner of a 32.3-acre site that the city approved for site clearing Jan. 23.
VanTrust Real Estate Executive Vice President Marc Munago said May 11 that Ring Power bought the land for its Phoenix Products company. He said VanTrust will develop the building for it.
The site is about 6 miles west of JaxPort’s Blount Island Marine Terminal.
JLL Executive Managing Director Luke Pope represented Ring Power and subsidiary Phoenix Products in the purchase. VanTrust represented itself.
Larger facility
A day after Jacksonville City Council approved incentives for the deal, Jacksonville-based Phoenix Products announced June 11 it will expand to a 231,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in North Jacksonville, relocating from its 89,000-square-foot facility in the Talleyrand area of East Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville City Council unanimously approved an economic development agreement June 10 for the project under the code name Project Rotunda. Phoenix Products acknowledged in the news release that it was the project.
“This new facility marks a pivotal moment for us, enabling substantial growth and enhanced capabilities,” said Cliff Mills, vice president and general manager of Phoenix Products, in the release. The company expected completion by May 2026.
Phoenix Products makes custom generator enclosures, fuel tanks and fueling systems for standby, prime and peak shaving power applications. Peak shaving is a strategy where facilities reduce their energy consumption during peak times of high demand by reducing consumption or using sources like generators or batteries.
The company’s customers represent industries that include banking, data centers, communications, transportation, human services and governmental sectors.
Ring Power bought Phoenix Products, a former supplier, in 2005.
Jobs created
The June 11 release said the company will increase its workforce from 150 to 270 employees, creating at least 120 new jobs in Jacksonville. Key positions include welders, electricians, project managers and engineers.
Phoenix Products operates at 1544 E. Eighth St. among several buildings totaling more than 89,000 square feet of space on 18.44 acres.
It is based along Eighth, Bennett and Egner streets and Talleyrand Avenue, about 9 miles south of the new site.
The current location is between Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Talleyrand Avenue, just more than a mile from the JaxPort Talleyrand Marine Terminal along the St. Johns River.
City Council voted 18-0 to approve a $1.1 million incentive for the company, whose name was not disclosed in the legislation.
City documents said Project Rotunda planned to double the size of its Jacksonville operation by adding 240,000 square feet of space. The city documents said the company would add 120 employees to its 150-member workforce over the next three years at an average salary of $62,000, excluding benefits.
The legislation said the company planned to spend $44 million on the expansion.
The city’s incentive comes in the form of a 10-year, 50% Recapture Enhanced Value Grant based on the increase in real and personal property taxes that would be generated by the new site. A REV grant is a refund on ad valorem tax revenue generated by a new development.