A “Significant Industrial User” is exploring about 300 acres at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center for a manufacturing facility that would use an average of up to 600,000 gallons of water a day.
City water and power provider JEA is reviewing a request submitted Dec. 22 and edited Jan. 5 to determine the availability of service for the unidentified project.
Potential users of that size could be a bottling facility, a solar panel plant or similar uses that need large amounts of water, according to industry sources.
The identity is not in the request nor being shared by the entities involved.
Civil engineering firm BGE Inc. submitted the application for “Jacksonville Manufacturing at Cecil,” referring to AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center, a city-owned industrial park in West Jacksonville.
Jenny Urcan, BGE Jacksonville director of land/site development, said by email Jan. 6 that she cannot comment further on the information in the JEA service availability request.
Dallas-based Hillwood is the city’s master developer of AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
Dan Tatsch, executive vice president of Hillwood, said by email Jan. 6 that he cannot comment on the JEA service request.
A JEA request means a project is being explored and does not mean a deal has been done.
However, the prospect appears to be in touch with the city.
“This is a confidential economic development project, so we are unable to share any details, per state statute,” said city Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry in an email Jan. 5.
AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center is generally between Interstate 10 to the north and south to Normandy Boulevard, with some property south of Normandy to 103rd Street.
The industrial park is west of the First Coast Expressway. POW-MIA Memorial Parkway runs through the lower part of the park from the expressway to Normandy and 103rd.
The project parameters
The service availability request is for Parcel L-O of AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
The request specifies 617 Water Works St., on the west end of that street. The street is also called Waterworks in some uses.
It is west of the Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC distribution center, which is at 4950 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway.
An AllianceFlorida site plan shows Parcel L at 146.98 acres and Parcel O at 152.37 acres.
The Duval County Property Appraiser says the real estate parcel identified in the application totals 582.79 acres.
The project description shows that:
• The manufacturing facility will be constructed in two phases.
• The average daily demand is 581,491 gallons of water per day and 401,455 gallons of wastewater produced.
• The maximum daily demand is 976,995 gallons of water per day and producing 531,148 gallons of wastewater.
• Those daily demands are for full build-out and within a 24-hour period.
• The manufacturing facility would operate 24/7. The peak hourly rate is unknown at this stage of design.
The application states: “We are anticipating that this will be classified as a Significant Industrial User with additional pre-treatment & discharge requirements that will be determined during the Industrial User Application process.”
JEA said it had no information beyond the application.
The municipal service provider says it classifies industrial users according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
The EPA definition for a significant industrial user is one that “discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater).”
EPA defines POTW as a publicly owned treatment works such as a water treatment facility or sewage treatment plant used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature, and is owned by a municipality or other governmental entity.
The St. Johns River Water Management District has not received an inquiry about the project.
"At this time, the District does not have a permit application under review associated with the address provided," district Media and Communications Manager Ashley Evitt said Jan. 6 by email.
What fits the profile
A search online for the possible types of companies with the need for that water use found suggestions:
• Pulp and paper manufacturing.
• Data center.
• Manufacturing/pharmaceuticals.
• Food and beverage processing.
• Commercial meat/animal processing.
• Textile/apparel manufacturing.
The specific water flow rates outlined in the service request exceeds the 25,000 gallons per day threshold of the EPA-defined significant industrial user.
Industry sources asked for background insight were unaware of the identity of the prospect, speculating a bottling plant and a solar panel plant as the types of industries that might need that amount. There already is a solar-panel plant, JinkoSolar, at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
The sources also said the project likely would be operating under a nondisclosure agreement with those involved with the site decision and development.
A nondisclosure agreement is a contract preventing parties from sharing confidential information.
On the public side, state statutes allow an economic development agency, such as the city Office of Economic Development, to maintain the confidentiality of private development plans upon a request for confidentiality for 12 months or until the information is otherwise disclosed.
It can extend that period upon the prospect’s request.
Any employee of an economic development agency who violates the statute is committing a second-degree misdemeanor that carries a $500 fine upon conviction.
The project does not appear to be The Cosentino Group, which bought about 320 acres in Cecil Commerce Center from the city of Jacksonville on Jan. 22, 2025, for about $20.4 million.
The Cosentino land is part of a 570.5-acre Cecil Commerce Center megasite immediately south of I-10 and west of First Coast Expressway.
Cosentino bought the land through Cosentino Industrial USA LLC of Coral Cables.
In May 2023, Cosentino Group announced Jacksonville’s Cecil Commerce Center as the site of the Spain-based international company’s first manufacturing facility in the U.S.
Cosentino, a maker of sustainable countertops, flooring, facade materials and other surfaces for architecture and building design, planned to break ground on a $270 million first phase of its Jacksonville production plant in January 2025. That phase included a 408,000-square-foot production facility and 734,000 square feet of adjacent support areas.
It plans to hire 180 employees.
City Council amended the agreement to extend start of construction to July 1, 2027, and completion by March 31, 2030.
The city Office of Economic Development said Jan. 6 it is working with the city Department of Public Works, railroad CSX Corp. and JEA on completing the new roadway to the Cosentino site, as well as a rail spur extension, to serve the operation.
AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center
The city owns AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center. Hillwood is the operator and master developer.
The city’s master development agreement calls for Hillwood to build-out AllianceFlorida on about 4,499 acres of city property, the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, off Normandy Boulevard and 103rd Street.
That agreement is designed for the city to share in the profits. As the master developer, Hillwood typically secures the tenant, buys the land from the city, develops the project and then sells it, sharing the proceeds with the city.
The Duval County Property Appraiser shows the almost 583 acres at 617 Water Works St. at a market value of $16.1 million.