Johnson & Johnson Vision Care’s proposed 1 million-square-foot packaging and distribution facility in Northwest Jacksonville is identified for Airport Commerce Center north of Jacksonville International Airport.
The contact lens manufacturer proposes to invest $500 million into expanding its production equipment and capabilities in its Deerwood Park facility at 7500 Centurion Parkway in South Jacksonville and invest $50 million into building a packaging and distribution center in Northwest Jacksonville.
Ed Randolph, city director of economic development, said previously Johnson & Johnson was working with a developer to build up to a 1 million-square-foot packaging and distribution facility in Northwest Jacksonville.
The draft Economic Development Agreement with Resolution 2026-285 was introduced April 14 to support city incentives for the total $550 million project and identifies the Northwest Jacksonville site by its real estate number, which is Airport Commerce Center.
Johnson & Johnson Vision Care is seeking $12 million in city incentives for the projects. Legislation has been introduced to City Council.
The Suddath Cos. of Jacksonville is developing Airport Commerce Center. The industrial park is designed for five industrial buildings totaling about 3 million square feet of space west of Pecan Park Road and south of Arnold Road, also called Gold Star Family Parkway.
The property is west of Interstate 95 and west of the Jacksonville Port Authority North Jacksonville marine terminals.
Suddath identifes a propsective 1.08 million-square-foot building as Phase 3.
That phase is in city civil engineering plan review, a necessary step before development.
Those plans show the proposed Building G at nearly 1.08 million square feet on a 118.53-acre site of which about 47.42 acres can be developed.
Suddath Chairman Steve Suddath said April 20 by email NXTPoint Logistics was its only signed and confirmed customer.
“As you know, ACC is a great property and there is definitely demand from others. We are engaged in a number of discussions with prospects, but nothing else signed or imminent at this point. We continue work on the site to clear and prep the land in anticipation of future customer interest,” he said.
The Jacksonville-based logistics company is developing Phase 2 to accommodiate its NXTPoint Logistics headquarters. The Suddath Cos. seeks permitting to prepare 76.64 acres for an industrial development of two buildings that total 821,720 square feet of space.
The master site plan of the phased project shows Building E at 566,720 square feet and Building F at 255,000 square feet. Evan Walton, Suddath senior vice president of real estate and construction, said March 19 that NXTPoint Logistics would establish its headquarters in a roughly 566,000-square-foot building on the Phase 2 property. The estimated 250,000-square-foot building would be for use by NXTPoint or another tenant.
An OED summary of the project says the facility will add 50 jobs to Johnson & Johnson’s 3,500-employee workforce by the end of 2028.
The summary states that Johnson & Johnson Vision Care manufactures 90% of the U.S. supply of Acuvue contact lenses from its Jacksonville facility.
If approved by Council, the incentives would be in the form of two Recapture Enhanced Value Grants. One is a five-year, 60% grant of up to $1.5 million for construction of the facility. The other is a five-year, 40% grant of up to $10.5 million for equipment.
The summary says the city’s return on investment will be $4.86 for every $1 in incentives. It also says that for Johnson & Johnson, the incentives “are a material factor in its decision to expand its operations here in Jacksonville” after conducting a search for alternative locations.