The announced $100 million factory for Holon, the German manufacturer of self-driving public transit vehicles, is now planned in the EastPort Exchange industrial park in North Jacksonville.
The city was reviewing civil engineering plans submitted Oct. 9, 2024, for Project Link, which was announced as Holon, in the Imeson Park South industrial park. It is about 3 miles east of the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, on parcels owned by VanTrust Real Estate.
Now the factory is planned about 4 miles northeast in the new Eastport Exchange industrial park at 10145 Eastport Road. The site is east of Eastport Road, south of its intersection with Faye Road. The general site is south of Interstate 295, east of I-95 and Main Street.
Eastport Exchange is being developed by Ponte Vedra Beach-based InLight Real Estate Partners.
David Burch, managing partner of InLight, said in a Nov. 24 email that Holon signed a term sheet for EastPort Exchange in October at the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s office.
The JTA announced Oct. 27 that construction of the factory is being carried out in cooperation with InLight as the project developer.
It said a groundbreaking ceremony is planned for April 2026, and commissioning is scheduled for the second half of 2027.
Plans for the Imeson South location showed a 491,472-square-foot building on 40.88 acres.
Burch and JTA said the site of Eastport Exchange facility will be a 585,000-square-foot building on 40 acres.
He said Holon plans a long-term lease for the facility.
“I’m not sure what their decision making process was up to that point,” Burch said of Holon’s decision to change locations.
According to JTA, a University of North Florida study said the project will bring more than $200 million to the local economy during the construction phase, create more than 800 jobs – at least 150 of them directly at Holon – and generate $87 million in economic output annually starting in 2028.
Eastport Exchange is within a Foreign-Trade Zone, which is a free-trade zone near a port of entry that allows companies to import and export goods paying reduced or no customs duties, taxes or fees.
InLight bought 136 acres from New York City-based Zion Jacksonville LLC in 2024 for Eastport Exchange. Zion owns more than 700 acres in North Jacksonville and is positioning the land as a master development of potentially more than 8 million square feet of warehouse use.
The Holon Mover is a toaster-shaped autonomous electric vehicle that can hold 15 passengers. It can reach a top speed of nearly 40 mph.
Holon announced in September that the plant would be Florida’s first autonomous electric vehicle assembly facility.
Holon is a subsidiary of Benteler Automotive Group, also based in Germany.
The state is providing an $8 million incentive award and tax credit for the plant while Jacksonville is contributing $7.7 million in property and training grants.
The JTA plans to reserve 100 electric self-driving vehicles from Holon for its Ultimate Urban Circulator, including an initial batch of 14 that will be purchased at $409,000 each.
JTA launched the U2C in June with the $65 million Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation system.
The U2C is JTA’s replacement for the Downtown Skyway and is now using Ford E-Transit vans until the Holon vehicles are ready.
NAVI, which operates on a 3.5-mile route mostly along Bay Street, was designed as the first leg of a system that would eventually involve adaptation of the Skyway system for the U2C and expansion of service to neighborhoods surrounding Downtown.
The system is facing criticism for low ridership. Council member Rory Diamond says he’s preparing legislation that would cut off $247 million in city funding for phases two and three of the system.