Westside is in line for another industrial warehouse – and a larger Sysco project.
The city and the St. Johns River Water Management District are reviewing plans for a 609,120-square-foot warehouse for Becknell Industrial on vacant land it owns along Pritchard Road in Westlake Industrial Park.
Plans also indicate that Sysco is exploring a larger project on an adjacent site than anticipated by the city.
The site is about 7 miles west of Interstate 295, north of I-10, in Northwest Jacksonville.
The Becknell project
Property records show that Becknell, through Pritchard Road Florida Becknell Investors III LLC, paid $8.96 million for the vacant 171-acre site in December 2019.
That LLC then sold the property internally to Jacksonville 21 Becknell Industrial LLC on March 26, 2025, for a consideration of $15.2 million.
It marketed the land in two parcels – Lot 21-A and Lot 21-B.
The Becknell warehouse in review is on the 75.1-acre Lot 21-A. The net acreage for development is shown as 42.2 acres.
No tenant is identified for the warehouse, called Building 1. A park plan exhibit dated June 17, 2025, says it will offer four drive-in doors and 62 dock-level doors.
Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer. The plans are for Becknell affiliate Becknell Services LLC.
The Colliers real estate company and Becknell’s marketing brochure call it a fulfillment/distribution center site for lease. It shows it is pad-ready for development of 609,120 square feet on 52 acres at 13522 Pritchard Road.
Colliers Executive Vice President Guy Preston is marketing the site.
The Sysco site
The Becknell site is next to the 96-acre Lot 21-B, which appears to be Sysco International Food Group Inc.’s vacant industrial land. The net acreage is 73.6 acres.
The sites appear to be separated by a new road, Mollexa Court, with Lot 21-A to the north of it and Lot 21-B to the south.
Sysco paid $16.5 million on July 22 – the same day Jacksonville City Council approved incentives for a warehouse for the code-named Project Moana – to buy land along Pritchard Road from Becknell Industrial of Indianapolis.
Becknell sold the land to Sysco through Jacksonville 21 Becknell Industrial LLC. Preston represented Becknell in the sale.
The deed recorded July 23 with the Duval County Clerk of Court specifies that Sysco acquired about 96 acres.
A larger Sysco
According to a city Office of Economic Development staff summary, Project Moana plans a capital investment of $80 million in new construction and $10 million in equipment for a 275,000-square-foot expansion warehouse.
The park plan exhibit shows a larger project.
The exhibit shows the 96-acre Westlake Lot 21-B as a 352,380-square-foot Building 2 with two future expansions of 106,210 square feet and 117,661 square feet.
The site data includes 49 dock-level doors, 146 trailer parking, 344 car-parking stalls and 193 future car-parking stalls.
That means Building 2 could total 576,251 square feet.
Houston-based Sysco Corp. markets itself as the world’s largest food distributor. It has two cold-storage food operations in Jacksonville already.
Sysco International Food Group Inc. owns a 3.1 million-square-foot cold-storage operation on 17.7 acres at 3000 W. 45th St. in Northwest Jacksonville.
Sysco Food Services Jacksonville Inc. owns a 315,580-square-foot cold storage and distribution center on 56.6 acres at 1501 Lewis Industrial Drive in Northwest Jacksonville.
A Sysco spokesperson responded Dec. 2 by email.
“Sysco is working closely with the City of Jacksonville to ensure the project fulfills the mutual goals of benefiting the community and creating jobs. The project will continue to evolve as we work toward these goals.”
Brian Bergen, director of economic programs for the Office of Economic Development, said Nov. 24 by email that other than the current project assisted by the city, he did not know of plans on the site.
“Regarding the square footage we are conservative when it comes to client investment numbers and job creation, but it (is) always great when they exceed what we were expecting,” Bergen said.
“In my experience decisions by the client are fluid as they develop their project.”
Sysco’s strategy
Aundra Wallace, president of JAXUSA Partnership, announced at an organization event Aug. 21 that Sysco is Project Moana.
On Aug. 26, Sysco issued a statement about the expansion.
“We have long enjoyed our position in that city and see great opportunities to expand our operations and create more jobs for the community,” it said.
It said Sysco International Food Group “delivers expertise in product selection, services and value chain capabilities in over 80 countries worldwide.”
“US-based restaurants – from fine dining to quick-service brands – rely on us to deliver their brand and unique customer experience from our two Florida locations in Plant City and right here in Jacksonville.”
The incentives
On July 22, the city approved $2.5 million in incentives for the code-named project.
The Jacksonville City Council voted to grant final approval for incentives for a “well-known international wholesale distributor” to expand in Jacksonville with a $90 million food distribution warehouse, described as an additional facility.
The city OED requested the incentive for Project Moana through Resolution 2025-0481, which provides the funding through a 60%, five-year Recapture Enhanced Value Grant, which is a refund on ad valorem tax revenue generated by a new development or property enhancement. It can apply to property and tangible personal property.
The OED staff summary said the company plans to add 100 employees to its workforce in Jacksonville with an average annual compensation of $52,000, plus an average of $13,700 in annual benefits.
The company plans to have the facility up and running by late 2029, the OED staff summary says.
Becknell’s plan
Becknell has been positioning the property for development.
City utility JEA issued a service availability determination letter Feb. 4 for Westlake Industrial Lot 21 to see if it had service access for up to 1.2 million square feet of industrial space.
The 609,120-square-foot Building 1 and 576,251-square-foot Building 2 total almost 1.19 million square feet.