Saying the time is right, New Jersey-based Sudler Cos. intends to break ground in September on a speculative industrial warehouse in West Jacksonville for completion in the third quarter of 2027.
“The project will be a speculative Class A warehouse designed to meet the growing demand for large, well-located industrial space in the Jacksonville market,” said Daniel Sudler, principal of Sudler, in an email Aug. 10.
Sudler is marketing the 512,595-square-foot project at 4070 Directors Road. The city is reviewing a permit for Sudler to build the speculative cross-dock shell warehouse at an estimated project cost of $18.5 million.
No contractor is identified for the project designed on almost 35 acres in Westlake Industrial Park, which has access to Interstates 10, 295 and 95.
“While the market has certainly evolved over the past couple of years, we’re seeing renewed demand for larger-format warehouse buildings and believe the timing is right to move forward,” Sudler said.
Jacksonville real estate market reports showed industrial vacancy rates averaged 9.1% to 11.6% at the end of the second quarter of 2026, down a full percentage point from the range of 10.2% to 12.7% at the end of the first quarter. West Jacksonville holds the area’s largest concentration of industrial warehouse development.
The site is west of I-295 and south of Pritchard Road. The vacant land is across Directors Road from the BJ’s Wholesale Club distribution center.
“SudJax Westlake Park” is described as a building with a reinforced concrete tilt-wall panel, a reinforced concrete slab, aluminum storefronts, steel columns and more.
The shell would be permitted as speculative storage. Future tenants would need to submit permit drawings specific to their needs.
Sudler said Aug. 10 that the property is being marketed by Cushman & Wakefield Executive Managing Directors Jacob Horsley and Tyler Newman in Jacksonville.
Horton, Harley & Carter Inc. of Tampa is the architect. Prime AE in Jacksonville is the civil engineering consultant.
Cross-docking is a logistics practice of unloading products from an incoming truck and immediately reloading into outbound trucks or trailers. For example, it can move products from a manufacturer directly to the customer with minimal handling and time.
A cross-docking facility is seen as a sorting center that requires less storage space than a distribution center. Goods often spend less than a day in the terminal. Industries that benefit are those dealing in perishable goods, foods and beverages; inbound supplier components and raw materials; and packed and sorted products and parcels.
The SudJax project has been in regulatory reviews as a 511,100-square-foot warehouse-distribution center on land Sudler Cos. bought in December 2024. The project size can be adjusted as plans progress.
Power provider JEA, the city and the St. Johns River Water Management District have been reviewing plans for the proposed warehouse on 34.9 acres at 4070 Directors Road.
Sudler Cos., based in Chatham, New Jersey, is pursuing the project through SudJax LLC, which paid $9.96 million for the property. It bought the land from Atlanta-based Pattillo Industrial Real Estate, which owned it through Westlake Land LLC.
Pattillo bought the property in 2016.
Newman previously referred to the property as being a “great site and ready to build.”
After the purchase, Sudler had been exploring construction of a 345,000-square-foot distribution/manufacturing warehouse that could be expanded to 600,000 square feet in a second phase.
Sudler said in January 2025 that the company was reviewing options for site plans.
Sudlerco.com says the company offers “the full spectrum of vertically integrated real estate development services to meet all real estate needs from vision to reality.”
About Sudler
Sudler began in 1907 as a general contracting firm. The company says it is under the fourth generation of Sudler family management.
It says it provides land acquisition and investment; real estate development; general contracting and construction management; property management; and legal expertise.
“From ground-up real estate development projects to strategic real estate acquisitions, we look for partnerships that offer long-term value creation potential. With multi-family investments spanning over 30 states in the US, we have a broad geographic footprint and a deep understanding of regional markets,” says the website.
It says its portfolio spans industrial and commercial developments primarily in New Jersey along with Florida and South Carolina.
Sudler owns Southern Oaks Business Park in Plant City, where Tesla and food distributor Sysco lease space.
It also added a Tesla distribution center in Greenville County, South Carolina.