By Mike Mendenhall & Katie Garwood
Staff Writers
Code-named Project Academy, a multinational manufacturer seeking government incentives to open a Jacksonville facility, is not considering the Downtown Maxwell House site.
City Office of Economic Development Director Kirk Wendland said in an interview April 29 that speculation about the Maxwell House facility in relation to the Academy is “going down the wrong path.”
“Any speculation that involves Maxwell House or the Maxwell House plant would be incorrect,” Wendland said.
Academy hasn’t finalized a location in Jacksonville but wants to purchase or lease a site within Census tract 174. This area includes a portion of the Maxwell House coffee plant at 735 E. Bay St.
“I have not heard anything from Maxwell House that they are planning to close their Downtown operation,” Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer said April 29.
That tract is bounded by a line two blocks west of the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and along Palmetto Street, north to Eighth Street in Talleyrand and the St. Johns River to the south and east.
Wendland declined to say whether the site Academy is considering has an existing operating facility.
Academy could create up to 300 jobs by Dec. 31, 2024, according to the document filed with the April 28 Mayor’s Budget Review Committee agenda.
The average annual wage of those jobs is $59,146 with benefits valued at 35% of the average wage.
The committee voted 6-0 on April 28 to submit legislation to City Council that seeks a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant from the city and $1.5 million in city and state Qualified Targeted Industry Tax Refund rebates for Academy.
Academy seeks a QTI of $5,000 per job, totaling $1.5 million. The state would provide a $4,000 per job tax credit up to $1.2 million, or 80% of the rebate. The city would match that with 20%, or $1,000 a job, or $300,000.
The city estimates Academy would invest more than $40 million into buying or leasing the property, making improvements and installing manufacturing equipment, furniture, fixtures and equipment. “The negotiations have not been finalized,” the summary states.
Academy seeks a REV grant that would rebate 50% of the increase in property and tangible personal property taxes generated from the capital improvements for 10 years after it takes possession of the site and starts operations. It did not specify that amount.
The city did not identify the type of manufacturing Academy performs.
Incentives are “a material factor” in deciding on a location, the summary said.
Project Academy would be approved in two separate pieces of legislation – one requesting approval for the city to participate in the QTI program, which the summary said sunsets June 30, and a second submitted by the Downtown Investment Authority for approval of a REV Grant once the location is determined.
The company is evaluating port cities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, according to the summary.
Initial speculation focused on the Maxwell House plant, owned by Kraft Heinz Foods Co. CNBC reported in February 2019 that Kraft Heinz was considering a sale of the coffee brand, but the company has not commented on the possibility.
Kraft Heinz asked the DIA in December to redraft the terms of its 2016 incentives agreement with the city after failing to meet a job target at the plant, although the DIA withdrew the resolution a few days later.
Daily Record Editor Karen Brune Mathis contributed to this report