Dallas-based developer Hillwood’s third-quarter report to the city says it continued to track, since late 2023, a prospect interested in leasing 1 million to 1.5 million square feet of space for “automated distribution” in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
The report mirrored the previous quarterly report that the prospect first contacted Hillwood in late 2023 and ended the third quarter of 2025 appearing “to be considering several states” and did not say when it expected to move forward.
Hillwood also reported again that it continued to deal with a prospective tenant needing to lease 500,000 to 1 million square feet for manufacturing, assembly and distribution operations. The discussions began in the last quarter of 2024.
That might be a prospect for Building E at 5550 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway, on 45 acres at northwest POW-MIA Memorial Parkway and Finger Lake Street, north of the Florida State College at Jacksonville Cecil Center.
Hillwood said that during August, several people from the prospect company toured the new 603,529-square-foot Building E, after which Hillwood provided selected plans and specs about the building.
The company does not disclose the identities of potential tenants.
Hillwood said that by the end of the third quarter of 2025, shell construction was nearly complete and that efforts were focused on having JEA energize the transformer and set the water meter.
It said the interior office construction continued, with an estimated construction date before Thanksgiving.
Hillwood previously reported that by the end of June, site mass grading, the concrete floor slab and perimeter wall panels were completed at what was called Parcel E.
Structural steel was on-site, site utilities were in progress and the erection of perimeter wall panels and steel was set to start in the first week of the third quarter.
In August 2024, Hillwood’s senior leadership team approved development of the 603,000-square-foot speculative industrial building. The city issued a site-clearing permit that month for the project at a job cost of almost $12.1 million. The city issued the construction permit March 5, 2025, at a job cost of almost $34.96 million.
Hillwood Construction Services L.P. of Dallas was the contractor for the 603,529-square-foot warehouse.
Executive Vice President Dan Tatsch said Sept. 29 that the site and shell of Building E should be completed by mid-October. Interior office space would take another month.
A site brochure from Cushman & Wakefield and Hillwood says the building is set for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2025, meaning it will be ready for tenant build-out during October-December 2025.
It is designed as a cross-dock facility. Cross-docking is a logistics practice of unloading products from an incoming truck and immediately reloading into outbound trucks or trailers.
Tatsch said Hillwood’s goal is to lease Building E to a single tenant, but the structure is designed to be subdivided if necessary.
“We are talking with several potential prospects for Building E, but can’t disclose any information beyond that,” Tatsch said June 29.
“We’re encouraged by the activity we’ve seen so far.”
Cushman & Wakefield Managing Directors Tyler Newman and Jacob Horsley are the leasing representatives, along with development representatives Tatsch and Brennen Clifford with Hillwood.
More developments
As the city’s master developer of AllianceFlorida, Hillwood provides quarterly reports of its activities at the West Jacksonville industrial park. The third quarter was July 1 to Sept. 30, 2025.
In other third-quarter marketing activities, Hillwood said it:
• Continued to track a prospect that first contacted Hillwood during the second quarter of 2025 interested in leasing about 150,000 square feet of industrial space.
• Received and responded to a preliminary inquiry from a broker representing a company interested in leasing about 1 million to 1.5 million square feet of industrial space.
• Conducted due diligence investigations of Parcels L, M, N and O “to more fully understand the development opportunities and challenges of these parcels.” Environmental, survey, geotechnical and wetland studies were ongoing or completed by the end of the second quarter and continued during the third quarter.
It said Hillwood’s general contractor began to formulate preliminary development budgets “based on the growing body of due-diligence information.
Cecil Commerce Center
Cecil Commerce Center is generally between Interstate 10 and Normandy Boulevard, with some property south of Normandy, on both sides of the parkway. It is west of Interstate 295.
The city is the property owner. Hillwood is the operator.
The city’s master development agreement calls for Hillwood to build-out AllianceFlorida on about 4,499 acres of city property, the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, off Normandy Boulevard and 103rd Street in West Jacksonville.
That agreement is designed for the city to share in the profits. As the master developer, Hillwood typically secures the tenant, buys the land from the city, develops the project and then sells it, sharing the proceeds with the city.
Tatsch said in January 2024 that Hillwood has developed about 3.225 million square feet at AllianceFlorida.
Building E will boost that to 3.828 million.
That includes the two 1 million-square-foot centers for online retailers Amazon.com on about 86.5 acres and home-furnishings company Wayfair on 80 acres.