The city issued a permit Feb. 17 for Publix Super Markets Inc. to expand its freezer warehouse in West Jacksonville at a project cost of $28.8 million.
Gray Construction Inc. of Lexington, Kentucky, is the contractor for the project at 9800 W. Beaver St.
The permit allows Lakeland-based Publix to build the two additions of 41,205 square feet of produce space, which would operate at 35 degrees, and 15,391 square feet for boxed meat at 28 degrees.
The permit follows two others for site clearing Oct. 20 and the foundation Dec. 9.
The city also is reviewing a permit for a $5.112 million renovation of the existing freezer warehouse, and those plans indicate a total project area of 537,587 square feet.
The permits total a project cost of $33.92 million.
Gray AES is the architect. Dyer+ Associates LLC of Richmond, Kentucky, is the civil engineer.
The project comes as Publix also develops a frozen foods warehouse on land it owns at 10132 General Ave. adjacent to its distribution complex.
Publix is building that 370,000-square-foot freezer building on 42.4 acres. Permits issued for that project total almost $145 million. Gray Construction Inc., Gray AES and Dyer & Associates LLC are working on that project, too.
Publix began developing the 127-acre West Beaver Street site in 1971. Buildings were added since then and now they total more than 950,000 square feet.
The structures include warehousing, distribution, refrigerated warehouses, offices and other functions.
That size increases to about 1.35 million square feet with the new warehouse.
The city signed off on incentives for the new warehouse in November 2023. City Council unanimously approved a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant up to $3.5 million for the frozen foods warehouse, code-named Project Willow.
The grant represents 50% of the new city ad valorem tax anticipated to be generated by the project over a term of five years.
Publix said in April 2024 that the new frozen foods warehouse was targeted to open in late 2027 and hire about 150 people.
Publix says it will add capacity to its distribution network and primarily serve Central and North Florida, and southern Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
While not identified as Publix, the city incentives legislation said the recipient of the property tax refund is a locally established regional food retailer that wishes to expand its distribution support operations to accommodate continued growth to serve customers in the Southeastern U.S., according to records filed by the city Office of Economic Development.
The expansion outlined in the ordinance included development of a 300,000-square-foot cold-storage facility with a capital investment of about $150 million for construction and equipment.
The ordinance said the company will maintain its current level of jobs and add 150 with a $7.5 million annual payroll combined with “offering substantial benefits” by Dec. 31, 2027.
A report presented with the proposal by the Council Auditor’s Office indicated the JEA issued a service availability letter Aug. 28, 2023, for Publix to build a 400,000-square-foot warehouse for frozen foods storage on 37.15 acres along General Avenue.