Before announcing in July it was winding down its Jacksonville operations, electric vehicle maker Cenntro Inc. was served with separate eviction lawsuits for its two Jacksonville facilities.
In its quarterly report filed Aug. 13 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cenntro said EastGroup Properties LP filed a summons March 18 to evict the company from its vehicle showroom at 11840 Beach Blvd. on the Southside.
It also said the owner of its manufacturing facility at 2240 N. Lane Ave. on the Westside filed a summons for eviction April 22.
The quarterly report said the company was negotiating settlement agreements in both lawsuits.
New Jersey-based Cenntro announced plans in 2021 to open its first U.S. plant in Jacksonville for production of its commercial electronic vehicles.
It signed a five-year lease for the 100,000-square-foot facility in the Lane Industrial Park in January 2022, according to the quarterly report.
It also said it signed a seven-year lease in July 2022 for the 12,000-square-foot vehicle showroom on Beach Boulevard, which it described as its flagship EV Center.
The eviction lawsuit filed in April in Duval County Circuit Court said Cenntro had failed to make monthly rent payments on the Lane Avenue facility beginning in December 2023.
The suit was filed by BRI 2240 North Lane Avenue LLC, which lists its address as the same New York office as Bluerock Residential Growth REIT Inc.
“The parties agreed to an installment plan in January 2024 whereby Cenntro Auto would catch up on its delinquent rent payments, but Cenntro Auto has failed to make the required payments,” BRI said in the lawsuit.
It said Cenntro owed $392,000 in back rent as of April 8 and sent the company a five-day notice April 12 to “quit and vacate the premises.”
Cenntro filed a response Aug. 2 to the lawsuit denying it was in default and saying BRI has failed to seek an alternate tenant to mitigate damages, as contractually required.
“The Plaintiff has failed to use its reasonable efforts to procure an alternative tenant and any recovery should be offset, reduced, and/or denied due to their failure to do so,” it said.
The lawsuit filed March 18 by Jacksonville-based Eastgroup said Cenntro failed to pay rent due Feb. 1 and March 1 and owed $42,905 in rent and fees.
Cenntro has not filed a response in court to that suit.
Cenntro reported revenue of $11.7 million and a net loss of $18.4 million in the first six months of 2024.
The company said it sold 420 electric commercial vehicles in the first half of the year, with just 65 of those in the U.S.
When the company announced its decision in late 2021 to open its first U.S. plant in Jacksonville, it said the facility would support annual production levels of more than 50,000 vehicles within four years.
Cenntro has a plant near its headquarters in Freehold, New Jersey, and announced in July the opening of another plant in California, saying it was winding down operations in Jacksonville. However, it did not say why it was closing its Jacksonville operations.
In addition to its U.S. plants, Cenntro’s annual report said it had facilities in Changxing and Yangzhong, China; Herne, Germany; and Monterrey, Mexico.
Cenntro had one other U.S. EV Center at its Freehold headquarters and nine vehicle showrooms in other countries as of Dec. 31.