VanTrust Real Estate LLC sold a site in Imeson Park South in North Jacksonville to St. Augustine-based heavy equipment dealer Ring Power Corp. ,
Through JI IPS Land LLC, VanTrust sold land at 1511 Zoo Parkway to Ring Power on May 8 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. England-Thims & Miller Inc. is the civil engineer.
The site is designated for construction of a more than 230,000-square-foot building called both Building B2 and Building 600.
A construction permit has not been formally submitted for the project.
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 a 231,467-square-foot 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.
Phoenix Products, which operates in the Talleyrand area of East Jacksonville, manufactures custom generator enclosures, fuel tanks and fueling systems for standby, prime and peak shaving power applications.
It is based at 1544 E. Eighth St. along Eighth, Bennett and Egner streets and Talleyrand Avenue. The site is between Martin Luther King Parkway and Talleyrand Avenue, just more than a mile from the JaxPort Talleyrand Marine Terminal along the St. Johns River.
Phoenix Products operates among several buildings totaling more than 89,000 square feet of space on 18.44 acres. When it added a new headquarters office in 2021, the existing plant encompassed 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
Ring Power bought Phoenix Products, a former supplier, in 2005.
Phoenix Products describes itself as a “premier manufacturer of generator enclosures, base tanks, aboveground fuel tanks & fuel delivery systems.”
“We continue to serve and satisfy customers in a variety of businesses and industries that include banking, colleges and universities, data centers, grocery stores, federal agencies, hospitals and nursing homes, lift stations, military bases, municipal organizations, retail centers, wastewater treatment plants and more,” says PhoenixProds.com.
Ring Power Corp. traces its history to 1947 when General Motors accountant L.C. Ringhaver came to join Northeast Florida’s shrimp boat industry. He eventually bought out the company he joined, becoming a customer of engines built by Caterpillar Tractor Co.
Caterpillar chose Ring Power as its official engine dealer in 1961 and as a full- line Caterpillar dealer in 1962.
In 2005, Ring Power moved from Jacksonville into corporate headquarters in World Commerce Center in St. Augustine.
Today, Ring Power says it oversees 18 branch locations throughout Florida, including large regional facilities in Tampa and Orlando. A Pompano Beach branch supports air compressor, crane, and utility customers in South Florida. Ring Power also has facilities in the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.
A Ring Power spokesperson was not available May 9 to comment about the deal or to respond to questions about the possibility it is related to the city’s code-named Project Rotunda.
Project Rotunda
In a memo and staff report presented to the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee on Feb. 7, the city Office of Economic Development said the code-named Project Rotunda plans to spend $44 million in capital investment on a new location in Jacksonville after outgrowing its current site.
Ed Randolph, executive director of the Office of Economic Development, said May 9 he is under a confidentiality agreement regarding the project, so he could not comment when asked if the project was Ring Power or Phoenix Products.
MBRC approved the introduction of legislation.
Randolph said the legislation related to Project Rotunda has not been filed with Jacksonville City Council. “We plan on doing that at some point soon,” he said.
The unidentified Jacksonville manufacturer would receive an incentive of up to $1.1 million to expand its operations under the proposal from the city Office of Economic Development.
The proposal said the manufacturer aims to nearly double the size of its operation by adding 240,000 square feet of manufacturing space. It plans to add 120 employees to its 150-member workforce over the next three years. The average salary not including benefits for the newly created jobs will be $62,000.
The incentive proposed by OED is a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant based on 50% of 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.
OED staff says the company is being recruited by other locations in the Southeast and Texas.
“The Company would like to maintain its current employees as a compelling element in its decision to consider Jacksonville,” the memo reads.
“However, the Company must also weigh the business opportunities associated with relocating its operation elsewhere with a lower cost of construction and less competitive employment environment.”
The memo states that the company is considering locations near ports and in areas where its products are used. The type of product is not identified.
Among terms of the REV grant, the company would be required to maintain the existing 150 jobs, complete its new facility by Dec. 31, 2027, and add 120 jobs no later than Dec. 31, 2028.
OED says the city will receive a return on investment for the REV grant of $4.19 for every $1 invested.
Randolph said the legislation would “most likely” be the same as that presented to MBRC.
The Zoo Parkway site is about 9 miles north of the current Phoenix Products site.
Phoenix Products received incentives in 2020 to expand at its Talleyrand location.
In October 2020, City Council enacted Ordinance 2020-0587-E to provide Phoenix Products LLC a $100,000 Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund Business Infrastructure Grant to build a new administration building at the East Eighth Street site.
Phoenix Products had to buy and demolish an existing building and then reconfigure the site for more manufacturing. It estimated a $2.144 million capital investment.
At the time, it had 85 employees and pledged to create 12 more positions over the subsequent five years.