It’s no longer a secret that Amazon.com will open a sortation center at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
Four days after City Council member Aaron Bowman said the Seattle-based online retailer would open there, AllianceFlorida master developer Hillwood also said Amazon.com will be a tenant at Cecil Commerce Center.
“I can confirm we have signed a lease with Amazon for that facility,” Hillwood Senior Vice President Dan Tatsch said Jan. 30.
He said Hillwood targeted the third or fourth quarter of 2021 for completion of the almost 280,000-square-foot building,which will serve as a sortation center.
Amazon.com says sortation centers are “midmile” delivery centers in which the company sorts customer orders by ZIP codes before handing off to delivery partners for final delivery.
Amazon opened its first area sortation center, called JAX5, in 240,000 square feet at Westside Industrial Park.
Plans show the AllianceFlorida center will have outbound cross-dock doors. Tatsch said he has heard the Amazon facility referred to as an outbound cross-dock.
Cross-docking refers to unloading the goods from inbound trucks and directly reloading them onto outbound trucks.
Bowman, senior vice president of business development at JAX Chamber, said at the close of the Council meeting Jan. 26 that the new Westside Amazon.com center will be a $40 million project that creates 200 jobs.
Bowman’s comments came four days after the city approved foundation construction Jan. 22 for the Amazon facility at a cost of $2.7 million.
The Conlan Co. is the contractor for the foundation.
In October, the city began reviewing a permit application and plans for an Amazon facility at the site at a construction cost of $40.4 million. It is identified as JAX9.
A document by utility JEA showed the center could create about 260 jobs.
The 278,237-square-foot center is in development at 13450 Waterworks St. on Parcel F at southwest POW-MIA Memorial Parkway and Waterworks Street.
The city issued a permit Nov. 11 for W. Gardner LLC of Jacksonville to conduct site clearing, pine harvesting, pond creation and tree removal at the address at a cost of $6.4 million.
Amazon has opened or indicated plans to operate at least 12 locations in the area, including three large fulfillment centers, including one at Cecil Commerce Center; six delivery stations; a heavy bulk-freight center; and the two sortation centers.
