{"id":503661,"date":"2026-01-09T12:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503661\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T12:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:01:16","slug":"food-manufacturer-and-bottler-explored-sites-in-jacksonville-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503661\/","title":{"rendered":"Food manufacturer and bottler explored sites in Jacksonville in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

No identity has surfaced for the \u201csignificant industrial user\u201d exploring a 300-acre site in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center, but previous interest in the property indicates the potential size and type of user.<\/p>\n

A food manufacturer was exploring the site about three years ago.<\/p>\n

There also was a bottling company looking around Jacksonville at that time.<\/p>\n

As for the size, those previous prospects looked at 1.5 million to 2 million square feet of space.<\/p>\n

Those are not the prospects for the new project, but they show what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

The \u201csignificant user\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

To recap, a \u201cSignificant Industrial User\u201d is exploring Parcels L-O at AllianceFlorida for a manufacturing facility that would use an average of up to 600,000 gallons of water a day.<\/p>\n

City water and power provider JEA is reviewing a request submitted Dec. 22 \u00a0to determine the availability of service for the unidentified project.<\/p>\n

The identity is not in the request nor being shared by the entities involved.<\/p>\n

\"Parcels<\/p>\n

Parcels L, M, N and O at AllianceFlorida total 584.16 acres.<\/p>\n

Civil engineering firm BGE Inc. submitted the application for \u201cJacksonville Manufacturing at Cecil,\u201d referring to AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center, a city-owned industrial park in West Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Dallas-based Hillwood is the city\u2019s master developer of AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.<\/p>\n

BGE and Hillwood leaders have declined comment.<\/p>\n

A JEA request means a project is being explored and does not mean a deal has been done, although the city is aware of the prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a confidential economic development project, so we are unable to share any details, per state statute,\u201d said city Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry in an email Jan. 5.<\/p>\n

AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center is generally between Interstate 10 to the north and south to Normandy Boulevard and 103rd Street.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The service availability request specifies the significant user\u2019s address as 617 Water Works St., on the west end of that street. The street is also called Waterworks.<\/p>\n

An AllianceFlorida site plan shows Parcel L at 146.98 acres and Parcel O at 152.37 acres, totaling more than 299 acres.<\/p>\n

The project description says that:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The manufacturing facility will be constructed in two phases.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The average daily demand is 581,491 gallons of water per day and 401,455 gallons of wastewater produced.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The maximum daily demand is 976,995 gallons of water per day and producing 531,148 gallons of wastewater.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Those daily demands are for full build-out and within a 24-hour period.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The manufacturing facility would operate 24\/7.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The application states: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

JEA says it classifies industrial users according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.<\/p>\n

The EPA definition for a significant industrial user is one that \u201cdischarges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater).\u201d<\/p>\n

EPA defines POTW as a publicly owned treatment works.<\/p>\n

\"Hillwood<\/p>\n

Hillwood is the master developer of AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center<\/p>\n

Hillwood and Cushman & Wakefield<\/p>\n

Food or drink<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Water Works site has been of interest for years.<\/p>\n

Hillwood told the city that in the fourth quarter of 2023 it was eliminated by a prospect for an up to 2 million-square-foot industrial lease because of infrastructure timing.<\/p>\n

In November 2023, BGE applied to JEA to determine the service availability for a 1.5 million-square-foot \u201cfood-grade manufacturing company\u201d on Parcels L and M at 650 Waterworks St.<\/p>\n

Parcel M is 113.95 acres. The two parcels total about 261 acres.<\/p>\n

JEA responded Nov. 21, 2023, that it was currently unable to meet the demand for water treatment, which would require treatment plant upgrades and permitting that would take an estimated three to five years if approved and budgeted.<\/p>\n

In a required quarterly report for the 2023 fourth quarter, Oct. 1-Dec. 31, Hillwood told the city it had continued discussions that started during the previous quarter with a prospect interested in leasing 1.2 million to 1.5 million square feet of industrial space.<\/p>\n

Hillwood said that during the fourth quarter, the prospect delivered a written Request for Information that provided an updated size requirement of 1.5 million to 2 million square feet, \u201cas well as details about the prospect\u2019s electrical and water-supply requirements (both of which were very large),\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

It wrote that JEA \u201cindicated that satisfying the prospect\u2019s electrical & water requirements would require the construction of new infrastructure, which could not be completed within the prospect\u2019s required time frame.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The master plan for AllianceFlorida in West Jacksonville. It is also known as Cecil Commerce Center.<\/p>\n

Hillwood and Cushman & Wakefield<\/p>\n

\u201cHillwood conveyed this information to the prospect. As of the end of Q4, the prospect had eliminated AllianceFlorida based on timing considerations,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

As of mid-2025, Hillwood continued looking at developing the four parcels that include the three considered by the prospects.<\/p>\n

Hillwood told the city in its second-quarter report for April-June 2025 that it conducted due diligence investigations of Parcels L, M, N \u00a0and O \u201cto more fully understand the development opportunities and challenges of these parcels.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Environmental, survey, geotechnical and wetland studies were ongoing or completed by the end of the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Parcel N is 170.86 acres. The four parcels total 584.16 acres.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 1.5Msf-2Msf deal that\u2019s referenced in the Q4 2023 report (the prospect that eliminated Cecil due to infrastructure timing) is not, to my knowledge, the same deal that submitted the December 22 JEA service availability request,\u201d Tatsch said Jan. 7 by email.<\/p>\n

\"AllianceFlorida<\/p>\n

AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Project Z<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also in late 2023, the unidentified Project Z was exploring a site in November that included North Jacksonville, where InLight Real Estate Partners of Ponte Vedra Beach sought to determine the utility availability at a site east of Eastport Road next to a CSX rail line.<\/p>\n

Project Z was described as a 1.5 million to 2 million square-foot light industrial building on about 100 acres. An email with the Nov. 13, 2023, application described it as possibly a large bottling operation with high water and sewer demand needs.<\/p>\n

InLight had requested a development meeting with JEA.<\/p>\n

\u00a0InLight Real Estate Partners Managing Partner David Burch said at the time that the project was \u201cvery preliminary and our understanding is that the potential project is considering multiple sites in multiple Southeastern states.\u201d<\/p>\n

JEA records show that the project was abandoned.<\/p>\n

The name Project Z could have referred to the landowner, Zion Jacksonville LLC of Bronx, New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not heard about a re-start to the project Z process and that as of the time we reviewed it (year+ ago), it had larger water\/sewer requirements,\u201d Burch said by email Jan. 8.<\/p>\n

The Project Z request to JEA request showed a maximum daily demand of 1.35 million gallons of water along with an average sewer discharge of 300,000 gallons per day.<\/p>\n

About AllianceFlorida<\/strong><\/p>\n

The city\u2019s 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 in West Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

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