The Jacksonville Planning Commission voted March 5 to recommend approval of Cincinnati-based developer Merus’ rezoning request for a North Jacksonville property formerly planned as a liquified natural gas site.
The commission voted 6-0, with commissioners Joshua Garrison, Ali Marar and Michael McGowan absent, in favor of rezoning the property from Industrial Water to Light Industrial via Ordinance 2026-0084, and to approve a land use amendment from Water Dependent-Water Related to Light Industrial via Ordinance 2026-0083.
Merus and Eagle LNG agreed Nov. 26, 2025, to a purchase and sale agreement for 67.56 acres.
Merus plans to turn a 42.58-acre portion of the property into an industrial park. The site at 1632 Zoo Parkway is 2 miles east of the Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens and 6 miles west of JaxPort’s Blount Island Marine Terminal.
The master plan by Merus and its Merus Architects in Nashville, Tennessee, shows a three-phase project comprising a 421,120-square-foot Building 1 as Phase I and a 277,760-square-foot Building 2 as Phase II. A Phase III is shown without a building designation. The rest of the site is labeled as detention and flood plain areas.
The request says the proposal is not a final site layout. “We have the potential to add additional loading bays should it be required by future tenants,” it says.
The CBRE real estate company has listed the site as a 227-acre property for sale, calling it industrial waterfront development land. CBRE says the land is zoned for industrial use, offers CSX rail access and deep water with a 40-foot depth on the St. Johns River.
Eagle LNG wanted to ship gas from the site to Puerto Rico and other Caribbean Islands, provide it for fuel for marine customers globally and use it for U.S. domestic energy consumption. However, the coronavirus pandemic, inflation, construction costs and supply-chain challenges appear to have sidetracked the proposed $542 million project.
Eagle LNG paid $26 million in May 2022 for 194.18 acres from the Bostwick family. It separately paid $12.2 million to CEFL Inc., affiliated with North Jacksonville land owners William Webb Jr. and Dan Webb, for an adjacent 33.05 acres.
The bill will next be voted on by the City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee, which meets March 17, before coming before a full Council vote.