The closed Tyson Foods Inc. plant in Northwest Jacksonville fully matches the needs of Project Pan.
There is no confirmation that the meat-processing plant is of interest for Project Pan, but no other property appears to fit its needs as closely.
At 5441 W. Fifth St., the property is under contract, according to the LoopNet.com site.
The Colliers real estate company is listing the Tyson Tri-Temp Facility for sale. The listing agent with Colliers, Eric Bumgarner, confirmed that the property is under contract, but he was not able to provide any additional details on the transaction.
Project Pan is a code-named company described by the city Office of Economic Development as an international meat-processing company that is considering:
• A site in Northwest Jacksonville.
• A site in a designated Brownfield Redevelopment Area and a Level 1 Distressed Area.
• An existing, vacant, single-story concrete block manufacturing plant.
• A building has about 50,000 square feet of production space.
• A vacant refrigerated warehouse built in 1974.
The closed Tyson property is:
• In Northwest Jacksonville.
• In a Brownfield Redevelopment Area.
• An existing, vacant, single-story precast concrete tilt-wall manufacturing plant that the Duval County Property Appraiser says is reinforced concrete.
• A 45,873-square-foot building.
• The vacant processing and cold storage plant was built in 1974 and renovated in 2013.
More about plant
The listing brochure says the building, on 4.3 acres, has a processing floor along with freezer, blast freezer, aging/storage cooler and cooler ambient space, which signals its multiple temperature capabilities.
It also has dry storage, dock, lab, locker rooms and other space.
City Office of Economic Development Executive Director Ed Randolph said July 21 he had no comment.
The Mayor’s Budget Review Committee voted July 21 to allow the office to submit legislation to City Council for a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant of up to $800,000 to entice the international wholesale distributor to invest $28 million to renovate the facility, bringing it to code and “to convert the building from a refrigerated warehouse into a meat processing facility.”
It would create up to 150 jobs within three years at an average salary of $59,211 and a benefits package of $16,000.
Construction would start by Dec. 31, 2025, and be completed by Dec. 31, 2027.
Randolph told the committee that Jacksonville is competing with Savannah, Georgia, for the project, which is a heavy port user that will import meat products for processing among four production lines.
About the Tyson plant
Tyson Foods Inc. notified the state and Mayor Donna Deegan in November 2023 that it was closing its Jacksonville plant effective Jan. 8, 2024, cutting 219 jobs.
Tyson, based in Springdale, Arkansas, filed the notice under the state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The 219 jobs included 91 food handlers, 60 butchers and fewer than 10 each in 27 other job profiles, including general managers, supervisors, warehouse workers, a nurse and an interpreter.
The Bruss Co., a Tyson Foods subsidiary, bought the 4.3-acre site Jan. 7, 2012. It paid $1.5 million for the building developed in 1974.
The structure had been a shrimp-processing facility had been vacant for several years.
In January 2012, after City Council initially approved incentives for the deal, The Bruss Co. announced it would open a steak-cutting plant, creating 200 jobs and investing $11 million to buy and renovate the processing facility.
After the incentives were approved, Bruss said it completed the property purchase and would start renovations on a plant to age and portion cuts of beef and pork.
Operations were to start in the middle of 2012.
In 2013, Bruss Co. reapplied for the $1.2 million in city and state incentives that Council had approved in December 2011.
It said delays from environmental remediation affected the performance schedule in the original agreement, which expired, resulting in the need for new legislation with a revised performance schedule.
Creating 200 jobs
The company said it would create 200 jobs with an average wage of $31,000 plus benefits by Dec. 31, 2017.
Of the 200 jobs, 162 were semiskilled with “an excellent employee benefit package” valued at $8,000, according to the project summary.
Its estimated private investment was $7.2 million for the acquisition, renovations and investment in machinery and equipment.
The incentives comprised a Brownfield Redevelopment bonus tax refund of $500,000, of which the city was obligated for $100,000 and the state for $400,000.
The city also pledged a $400,000 Northwest Jacksonville Large Scale Economic Development grant and the state offered a $300,000 Quick Response Training Program grant.
Combined, the city’s obligation of the $1.2 million was $500,000.
The Bruss Co. became a Tyson subsidiary in 2001. It had one 52,000-square-foot meat-processing plant in Chicago that supplied portion-controlled steaks and chops to the food-service industry, according to the project summary.
During the 2011 commission meeting when the incentives were approved, Bruss Vice President and General Manager Anthony Cericola said the company had looked for the right place to establish its second plant.
“We think we’ve found the ideal location,” he said.
Bruss Co. is listed as the owner on the property appraiser site.