Industrial warehouse parks need access, and the property owner of a proposed large one in North Jacksonville is laying the groundwork.
Ownership of more than 700 acres in North Jacksonville is taking another step toward positioning the property for development by filing a site plan for a road within the land.
New York City-based Zion Jacksonville LLC and civil engineer Prosser Prime AE have asked city utility JEA to determine the water flow connections along the proposed “Zion Parcel 3 Spine Road” for future parcel connections.
Also, the city has been reviewing civil engineering plans for the project.
The road will connect to the property that InLight Real Estate Partners of Ponte Vedra Beach intends to develop.
A site plan shows the road will connect from Eastport Road and will run east to open up access to proposed Parcels 3A and 3B to the north and Parcels 4 and 5 to the south.
The first phases
InLight Real Estate Partners confirmed June 26 that it intends to buy almost 137 acres to start construction on four to seven industrial buildings on Parcels 3A and 3B, shown among two phases, totaling 1.84 million square feet of warehouse space.
The Colliers commercial real estate firm is marketing the site as Eastport Logistics Park. A Colliers brochure says the park will start delivering buildings in the second quarter of 2025, meaning there will be space available then for tenant build-out.
Colliers executives Guy Preston, Seda Preston and Jack Heed are the landlord representatives for InLight.
The brochure says building sizes are available from 131,040 to 310,960 square feet. Flexible suite sizes start at 25,000 square feet.
There also is an option for a build-to-suit up to 687,700 square feet of space on the land along a CSX rail line.
The city approved civil engineering plans June 13 for a first phase of four buildings and is reviewing civil plans for mass grading of the land, addressed as 10145 Eastport Road.
InLight Real Estate Partners submitted those plans to the city May 3 for four warehouse distribution buildings comprising 884,000 at the site in one phase.
The other phase would comprise three buildings or possibly the large build-to-suit.
The site is east of Eastport Road south of its intersection with Faye Road.
The spine road also appears to connect at Eastport Road where DHL Supply Chain is developing a logistics center on the west side.
Zion Jacksonville LLC sold almost 50 acres Nov. 28 on that opposite side of Eastport Road to a company affiliated with DHL Supply Chain to develop an almost 400,000-square-foot, $64 million logistics and distribution center.
The July 31 Zion Jacksonville LLC application to JEA includes the site plan dated July 22 that specifies multiuse paths and sidewalks on both sides of the proposed right of way as required by the city of Jacksonville.
JEA issued a service availability determination letter Aug. 6 detailing connection points and subsequent steps.
Site data shows the 727.6-acre property is timberland that will be developed for a light-industrial business park.
The roadway project area is 7.06 acres.
Warehouse use topping 8 million square feet
Zion Jacksonville LLC is positioning the land as a master development of potentially more than 8 million square feet of warehouse use.
It has owned at least 900 acres and has been selling and deeding parcels, especially in the past year.
Property records show that Zion bought the land in 1986.
Industry experts have said that after family leader Abraham Zion died eight years ago, the Zion family has been organizing in a long-term move to position the property to sell the land.
JEA also has been reviewing an application from Prosser to determine the service availability for the master development plan for the property, which is along Eastport Road, south of Interstate 295 and working its way down to Zoo Parkway.
Prosser and Zion representatives have not responded to requests for comment.
Some of the property fronts Dunn Creek and the Broward and St. Johns rivers, indicating potential waterfront and port uses.
With land holdings so large, owners are known to explore different plans to determine the highest and best use of property.
For the Zion land, an exhibit dated June 20, 2024, outlines 11 parcels – some with connecting pieces – that primarily are for warehouse use.
The key on that exhibit totals 881 acres.
Just one, the 52-acre Parcel 1 along the Broward River, is listed for multifamily development of an estimated 200 units.
The 65-acre Parcel 5, which also is along the proposed spine road, is shown as wetland.
A separate calculation sheet shows the total estimated parcel acreage of 722.36 acres.
That sheet, dated June 4, shows the estimated total warehouse use would be 8.17 million square feet along with 408,591 square feet of warehouse office space. Most warehouses have small office spaces.
The individual warehouse parcels range from 9.94 acres to 97.38 acres.
Plans show some combined parcels to create larger site availability.