Commonwealth Logistics Center in West Jacksonville is gaining two tenants as the city issues a permit for Daikin and is reviewing another for a proposed $16.6 million build-out for an Amazon distribution center.
Daikin
The city issued a permit Aug. 2 for HVAC manufacturer Daikin at Commonwealth Logistics Center in West Jacksonville.
Jacksonville-based Lay Construction is the contractor for the almost $1.31 million tenant build-out for Daikin in 103,311 square feet of warehouse space at 7489 Commonwealth Ave., which is about half of Building 1 at Commonwealth Logistics Center.
JAA Architecture, also based in Jacksonville, is the architect.
Daikin Industries Ltd. Is based in Osaka, Japan. Its Daikin America headquarters are in Orangeburg, New York.
Commonwealth Logistics Center Building 1, at 230,060 square feet, is at 7489 Commonwealth Ave. It is a traditional single-load warehouse, meaning there are dock doors on one side.
Amazon
The city is reviewing a permit application for the $16.6 million tenant build-out for internet retailer Amazon to open a distribution center in Building 2 after issuing a permit July 17 for horizontal development at a cost of $100,000.
Amazon uses codes for its properties. The project is coded as SJA1, also called Project Teapot.
SJA1 means it is the first of its variety in Jacksonville.
S matches the code used for one of Amazon’s newest same-day sites in Sacramento, California — known as SCA5
There’s no explanation why it is called Project Teapot.
Bryan Builders LLC of Longwood is the contractor for the build-out. Kimley-Horn is the civil engineer. Dialectic Engineering of Kansas City, Missouri, is a consultant.
Building 2, at 272,190 square feet, is at 1700 Imeson Road. It is a cross-dock center. Cross-docking is a logistics practice of unloading products from an incoming truck and immediately reloading into outbound trucks or trailers.’
The project information refers to the interior build-out of an existing warehouse for a warehouse for package sorting and delivery.
Also, city utility JEA issued a service availability letter July 29 for Project Teapot for Imeson Road turn lane improvements. The project was for utility relocation.
With 8,000 area employees, Amazon.com is one of the region’s largest employers. It has 10 facilities with an 11th in development at Craig Airport.
The Commonwealth Logistics Center facility would be the 12th.
The Seattle-based online retailer opened its first two fulfillment centers in September 2017 in Northwest Jacksonville and October 2017 in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville, with the help of $26.7 million in city and state incentives for creating 2,700 jobs.
Since then, it opened another fulfillment center, two sortation centers, a heavy bulk freight center and several delivery stations, with one under construction for fall completion at Craig Airport.
None of those subsequent facilities received incentives.
JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace said June 4 at a NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association meeting that Jacksonville is a gateway for Amazon.
“... in the state of Florida, we have more Amazon distribution facilities in this entire Northeast Florida region than anywhere else in the entire state of Florida,” Wallace said.
Globest.com, a commercial real estate site, reported April 16, 2024, that Amazon is doubling down on the strategy it introduced last year to regionalize its retail distribution network and run the whole logistics network with AI-driven inventory control by rapidly expanding its same-day delivery capacity.
In his annual letter to shareholders in April, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company will double the number of same-day fulfillment centers it has opened from the current total of 58 to more than 100 and expand its capacity to delivery “everyday essentials,” a market segment that grew 20% in a year-over-year comparison in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Forbes.com reported Aug. 4, 2023, that according to Marc Wulfraat, president of the supply chain consulting firm MWPVL International, Amazon operated 48 sub-same-day (SSD) facilities that cover 100,000 to 330,000 square feet and fulfill orders in fewer than five hours. Wulfraat noted that four additional fulfillment centers were under construction and Amazon could scale up to 150 locations in the following three years.
Commonwealth Logistics Center
The 39.13-acre Commonwealth Logistics Center is at southwest Imeson Road and Commonwealth Avenue. The site is near Interstates 10 and 295, which both connect to Interstate 95.
The property owner is AIREIT Commonwealth Logistics Center LLC of Los Angeles.
A real estate brochure says the property is owned by Ares Industrial Management and developed by InLight Real Estate Partners.
The city issued permits in October 2022 for the two shell warehouses totaling 502,250 square feet for the Commonwealth Logistics Center at a construction project cost of $26.8 million.
Counting property purchase and preparation costs, the center was an investment of more than $39 million.
The city issued permits in June 2022 for the foundations for the warehouses at a combined cost of $3.4 million. It issued a permit for site clearing and site work in May 2022 at construction cost of $4.88 million.
Ponte Vedra Beach-based developer InLight Real Estate Partners bought the Commonwealth and Imeson property in April 2022 from N.G. Wade Investment Co. for $3.95 million.
InLight Real Estate Partners later deeded the property under development to Denver investment company Ares Management Corp.
Through AIREIT Commonwealth Logistics Center LLC, Ares Management LLC paid $8.9 million for the land in June 2022.
Cushman & Wakefield Managing Directors Tyler Newman and Jacob Horsley are representing Commonwealth Logistics Center, which was scheduled for delivery for tenant build-out in the second quarter of 2023.