Dallas-based developer Hillwood’s first-quarter report to the city says it continued to deal with a prospective tenant needing about 1 million square feet for manufacturing, assembly and distribution operations.
The discussions began in the last quarter of 2024.
Hillwood, the city’s master developer at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center, said in the fourth-quarter report that it received and responded to a preliminary inquiry from a site-selection consultant representing a company interested in the location.
The prospective tenant and site consultant were not identified.
Hillwood provides quarterly reports of its activities at the West Jacksonville industrial park.
The developer was not obligated to file the Q4 report for October-December until the end of May. The Q1 report for January-March 2025 was due by June 30.
More developments
In other first-quarter marketing activities, Hillwood said it:
• Continued discussions with a prospect interested in buying about 50 acres for construction of a distribution facility. By the end of March, the prospect appeared to be focused on a Jacksonville site other than AllianceFlorida. Hillwood said that during Q4, it received and responded to an inquiry from a broker representing the prospect, which at that time was evaluating several options in Jacksonville. The prospect and broker were not disclosed.
Hillwood acknowledges that the project was the code-named Project Moana, which seeks city incentives for an estimated $90 million, 275,000-square-foot food-distribution warehouse. The prospect had considered AllianceFlorida, but told Hillwood it was no longer in the running. The city says the project’s preferred but unidentified Jacksonville site needs utility and ingress/egress work.
• Continued to track an undisclosed prospect that first contacted Hillwood in late 2023 that is interested in leasing 1 million to 1.5 million square feet of space for “automated distribution.” At year-end, the prospect continued to evaluate its requirement and did not provide an estimate about when it expected to move forward with it. As of the end of March, the prospect appeared to be considering several states for the requirement and still did not provide an estimate about when it expected to move forward.
• Received and responded to a preliminary inquiry from a company interested in leasing about 250,000 square feet of office and research and development space. At the end of March, the prospect appeared to be focused on “office campus” options rather than on industrial parks such as AllianceFlorida.
Hillwood also reported that at the end of March, mass grading continued in the upland areas in Parcel E at 5550 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway. In late January, Hillwood received a wetland permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allowed site work to expand into the wetland areas of the property.
It said that through the balance of the quarter, Hillwood’s contractor made progress on clearing the wetland and constructing the building pad.
In August, Hillwood’s senior leadership team approved development of a 603,000-square-foot speculative industrial building on 45 acres of Parcel E at northwest POW-MIA Memorial Parkway and Finger Lake Street.
The city issued a site-clearing permit Aug. 23 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 is the contractor for the 603,529-square-foot warehouse north of the Florida State College at Jacksonville Cecil Center.
Executive Vice President Dan Tatsch said he expects Building E to be completed in late October or early November.
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.”
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.
AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center is represented by Hillwood and by Cushman & Wakefield Executive Managing Directors Tyler Newman and Jacob Horsley.