The city issued a permit July 25 for ARCO Design/Build to expand FlexCold LLC’s North Jacksonville cold-storage facility at a construction cost of $19.63 million.
FlexCold is more than doubling in size in Phase 2 by adding 171,583 square feet on 11.74 acres at 11180 Blasius Road.
FlexCold announced Oct. 20, 2022, it opened the 150,000-square-foot Phase 1 of the warehouse.
Jacksonville City Council approved Resolution 2023-0015 on Jan. 24 that includes a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant property tax refund on what is expected to be a $115 million, 346,000-square-foot facility.
Council had approved a REV grant capped at $1.1 million in April 2021 for the project before the South Carolina-based international frozen protein distributor announced it would enlarge the facility.
FlexCold told the city the expanded facility would create 40 full-time jobs, up from 20 in the original agreement, at an average annual wage of $55,422 plus benefits.
FlexCold must have the jobs in place by Dec. 31, 2025, to receive the city grant.
At the time of the Council vote, construction was expected to start in the first quarter of 2023 with completion estimated in summer 2024.
The terms of the REV grant remain a five-year, 50% refund of the increased taxable value of the property.
The firms filed mass grading plans for the project’s Phase 2 on Jan. 17. Jacksonville-based England-Thims & Miller Inc. is the civil engineer.
According to a previous news release, FlexCold’s Jacksonville facility will offer more than 350,000 square feet and more than 55,000 pallet positions of chilled and frozen storage; cooling and freezing with temperatures ranging from minus 10 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit; on-site blast freezing; and 100 jobs.
Sizes were rounded in some of the reports.