Jacksonville-based Load King Manufacturing Co., which traces its roots to 1958 and whose designs and work can be found in venues from AMC Theatres to Starbucks, has closed out its business and listed its Rail Yard District campus for sale.
Load King, whose tagline was “King of Innovation,” designed and built branded kiosks and restaurant and store interiors for franchises and companies at its campus at 1357 W. Beaver St., west of Downtown Jacksonville.
Load King was led by Charles Chupp, whose father started the predecessor company 67 years ago after working for Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. It was renamed Load King in 1972.
Load King Administrative Director Sherri Mock, who was Chupp’s executive assistant, said Chupp, 85, decided to close out the business about three years ago.
“Several years ago, around 2022 and after 52 years of operating Load King, Charles decided it was time to work towards retirement by either selling the business or by dissolution,” Mock said in an Aug. 26 email.
“The decision was made to quietly discontinue operations in an orderly manner that allowed a smooth transition for both customers and employees. Once completed, he began to focus on listing the properties, which we currently have listed with Colliers,” Mock said.
A map with the Colliers marketing brochure for the former Load King campus shows it at 1357 W. Beaver St., west of Downtown Jacksonville.
Colliers
The Colliers commercial real estate company is listing the 11.41-acre property for $15.95 million.
Wrapping up the business, Load King filed a voluntary dissolution Nov. 15, 2024, with the state Division of Corporations effective Nov. 30, 2024.
The state corporate records show Chupp as president, Carrie Harper Chupp as treasurer and Todd Chupp as director.
As a privately held company, Load King did not publicly disclose revenue.
The company had about 180 employees in 2020, but gradually reduced the workforce as it phased out the business.
The company said no parts of the business were sold. It originally was listed for sale before the decision was made to close the operations.
“At that time, we notified our customers and our employees, stopped taking new orders, and fulfilled all existing orders and installs for our customers, which led to the very orderly closing of the business,” Mock said.
Mock said Charles Chupp is “pleased with the smooth transition and is looking forward to the next chapter in retirement.”
About the property
The Bumgarner Industrial Team at Colliers’ Jacksonville office is offering the property. The team comprises Colliers Executive Vice President Eric Bumgarner, Senior Associate Michael Cassidy and associate Gordon Olson.
Colliers says the 204,144-square-foot warehouse and office complex is on 11 parcels that total 11.41 acres at northwest Beaver Street and Myrtle Avenue.
“Industrial offerings of this scale, location and condition are rare,” the Colliers brochure says.
“Whether you’re scaling manufacturing, logistics or technology operations, this facility delivers the capacity and connectivity to meet high-demand business needs,” it says.
Colliers says the campus offers “an unmatched combination of heavy power, state-of-the-art infrastructure, secure operations and move-in-ready production and office space.”
About the company
Load King designed, fabricated, delivered and installed retail store, supermarket, restaurant and other interiors, equipment and fixtures throughout the United States.
It also provided services for the medical and hospital industries.
The company started in 1958 when James Merrill Chupp retired from Jacksonville-based grocery chain Winn-Dixie and started S.E. Sales Co., an equipment consolidator servicing the supermarket industry.
The West Beaver Street property also was Winn-Dixie’s headquarters and had expanded to more than 200,000 square feet of production space by the time S.E. Sales Co. moved in.
Winn-Dixie moved to a headquarters and distribution center along Edgewood Court.
Charles Chupp began making property moves in 2022.
Load King Manufacturing Co. had owned the campus but released the property in a quitclaim deed in July 2022 to MBRE of Jax. Both are led by Charles O. Chupp.
Duval County Property Appraiser records show that MBRE of Jax owns an 8.15-acre site along with 10 parcels of less than an acre each.
In September 2023, MBRE of Jax LLC sold about 5 acres and two buildings to Suddath Properties West Church LLC for almost $6.68 million.
Jacksonville-based Suddath is a household moving company that grew to provide global logistics and supply chain management.
Chupp said at the time that Load King had a surplus of warehouse space off Myrtle Street of about 108,000 square feet.
Chupp said upon the sale that Load King continued to own and operate 212,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space.
The Colliers marketing brochure for the former Load King campus shows the building for sale.
Colliers
Duval County Property Appraiser records now show that MBRE of Jax LLC’s 8.15-acre site comprises four buildings totaling about 204,144 square feet of space, and those are what Colliers is marketing:
• A 122,680-square-foot manufacturing building developed in 1919, marketed as Building 1.
• A 5,952-square-foot manufacturing building developed in 1950, marketed as Building 2.
• A 21,582-square-foot manufacturing building developed in 1970, marketed as Building 3.
• A 53,930-square-foot warehouse built in 1958, marketed as Building 4.
The pandemic response
Load King, like many manufacturers, pivoted during the 2020 pandemic.
The week of March 9, 2020, as the pandemic began, leadership at Load King retooled its strategy.
“It all started with a phone conversation with Baptist Hospital,” said Chad Grimm, then Load King chief operations officer, for a May 14, 2020, report in the Daily Record.
The Jacksonville-based health system asked for guidance about keeping staff safe during the pandemic and sought face masks and infrared conveyors to sanitize equipment.
Baptist chose a different supplier, but it set Load King on another track.
“It got our wheels spinning,” Grimm said.
“Because everything slowed down, it gave us an opportunity to move into personal protection offerings,” Grimm said.
From left, the Load King Manufacturing Co. leadership team in this photo from May 2020: Charles Chupp, Kyle Manning, Phil Black, Tanner Franklin, Ken Carella and Chad Grimm.
Load King quickly stocked up on raw materials before they became hard to find to make acrylic barriers, drive-thru protections, side shields for hospitals and the medical industry, sanitation stations, washbasins and graphics for social distancing.
The Jacksonville Aviation Authority put in a purchase order for protective shields, Grimm said.
At the time, Load King’s manufacturing and distribution plant employed 180 people.
The location included metal and wood shops, graphics and signage, and also provided full project management for its brands, including in-house design and permitting, tenant improvements and service and warranty.
“We are truly turnkey,” Grimm said.
“Our value proposition is total project control, which translates to quality, timeliness and being able to provide services that others aren’t as efficient at, which is especially beneficial with multilocation rollouts.”
As customers reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic, Load King sought to help.
“We are all in this together figuring what is going to work,” Grimm said.
Load King realized it wasn’t immune to the economic impact of the coronavirus, so it acted quickly, Grimm said.
It reduced employee hours for a few weeks, but that was it.
“We acted early and quickly,” he said.
“After we balanced the workload, we were able to step back and say, what product or products can we offer to help the situation?”
Before the pandemic
Load King had been gearing up for expansion rather than a pandemic.
In February 2020, the company bought about 2 acres next to its Rail Yard District headquarters from the city, Grimm said, with the intent to expand by up to 100,000 square feet of distribution and manufacturing space.
Load King rezoned the property with the city and was vacating a street.
City Council enacted Ordinance 2019-0135-E that allowed the city to sell two parcels totaling 1.96 acres at Union Street and Myrtle Avenue to Load King for $324,000, the appraised value of the property.
The legislation says Load King intended to purchase and redevelop the property to construct new warehousing and shipping facilities, including a new cross-dock shipping facility to allow the company to expand its commercial kitchen resale division, resulting in additional jobs at the Load King facility.
At minimum, Grimm said Load King would add 12 jobs, but he expected more.
Grimm said Load King anticipated designing the project by the fall and breaking ground in late 2021. He didn’t project a completion date.
The city does not indicate permits were issued for it.
About the Rail Yard District
Jeff Edwards, immediate past president of the Rail Yard District Business Council board of directors, said the Load King closure has an impact.
The former Load King headquarters building still has parking signs reserved for visitors.
Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
“Load King was a legacy company in the Rail Yard District and a significant employer in the area,” Edwards said.
“With its owner, Charles Chupp, Load King was an early supporter of the nonprofit Rail Yard District Business Council, formed to improve the economic development and quality of life in the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Edwards said Load King also hosted nonprofit Rethreaded for many years. Rethreaded has moved to the Springfield area north of Downtown.
Edwards, chief financial officer of Beaver Street Fisheries, said Load King’s property is unusually large for the area, in a prominent spot in the heart of the Rail Yard District, next to a leg of the Emerald Trail parkway system designed to connect neighborhoods around Downtown, and is close to several Interstate 95 interchanges.
“Given these attributes and that the Rail Yard District has received lots of interest in the last few years, we expect their property will be a great opportunity for the right buyer,” Edwards said.
“They will be greatly missed.”
Beaver Street Fisheries is at 1741 W. Beaver St., a mile west of the Load King property.
The Rail Yard District is west of I-95 and generally north and south of Beaver Street and from Kings Road south to Edison Avenue, in the Mixon Town area.
It says it comprises more than 100 businesses.
The Rail Yard District organizers say it dates to 1858 as a railroad junction and the district is named for the train tracks and terminal that continue to operate.