A year after buying Rowe’s Supermarkets Inc., the Massy Group of Companies is starting to expand distribution in the U.S. from a warehouse investment in Jacksonville.
Massy Distribution Properties LLC, a Miami-area company that is part of the Caribbean group that bought Rowe’s Supermarkets in December 2022, wants to build-out part of the warehouse it bought in October in Imeson International Industrial Park in North Jacksonville.
Massy Distribution bought the 172,136-square-foot warehouse Oct. 16 for $24.5 million from IPI-10775 Inc., part of Orlando-based Webb Southeast Inc. JPMorgan Chase of Miami issued a $9.65 million mortgage.
The Massy Group of Companies, based in Trinidad and Tobago, says in its 2023 annual report that it sold its Medley warehouse in the Miami area and bought the Jacksonville building, which is three times the space used by Massy Distribution in Medley, providing opportunities for growth.
“The Medley warehouse has subsequently been sold and the Portfolio has acquired a new 170,000 sq. ft. warehouse facility in Jacksonville, Florida, which is three times the space used by Massy Distribution in Medley, providing ample room for IRP’s growth plans,” the report says, referring to Massy’s integrated retail portfolio.
The Jacksonville warehouse”will facilitate the growth of our US Distribution business.”
It said the gain on its sale of the Medley warehouse at the end of the financial year boosted the distribution results.
“In Distribution, we have added new lines in every territory and opened new warehousing space" in Barbados, Guyana and Florida to support the growth, it said.
The Imeson warehouse
Jacksonville-based NAI Hallmark said Vice President and Industrial Specialist Jason Purdy and Senior Associate Camden Padgett brokered the warehouse transaction on behalf of Massy Distribution USA, based in Medley.
The warehouse is at 10775 Yeager Road. Massy Distribution LLC applied to the city to build-out 102,192 square feet of space at an estimated cost of $696,300. Jacksonville-based Auld & White Constructors LLC is the contractor. Studio9 Architecture of Jacksonville is the architect.
Plans show Phase II future cold storage at the space.
Plans also show another part of the building will be for a future warehouse tenant.
“Securing the ideal location, with close proximity to JAX Airport, Downtown and JAXPORT, was a strategic move for our client. The city’s growing logistics hub, combined with our in-depth market knowledge, allowed us to navigate this competitive market and find the perfect property that met our buyer’s needs,” Purdy said in an October 2023 news release.
The city issued a permit Oct. 14, 2022, for the warehouse construction at a project cost of $12.3 million. The building comprises 170,240 square feet of warehouse space and 1,896 square feet of office space at Yeager and Cold Storage roads.
Massy Group’s growth
The century-old Massy is expanding into the U.S.
Massy Distribution (USA) was long established, but in the last two years Massy has registered several companies with the state of Florida, including Massy Stores (USA) LLC on Nov. 30, 2022; Massy Integrated Retail (USA) LLC on April 27, 2023; Massy (USA) Inc. on May 3, 2023; and Massy Distribution Properties LLC on July 26, 2023.
Massy Distribution (USA) Inc. and Massy Distribution Properties are based in Medley/Miami, while the others are based in Trinidad with mailing addresses at the Medley office.
MassyDistribution.com says that Massy Distribution (USA) Inc. has been operating for more than 40 years. It manages ambient, chilled and frozen product lines, the site says. Ambient space is designed for items stored in a dry environment at room temperature.
The site says Massy Distribution is part of the Massy Group of Companies regional conglomerate that has been in operation throughout the Caribbean for 100 years.
Massy Group of Companies reported revenue of $2.11 billion in U.S. dollars for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2023, up from $1.83 billion in fiscal 2022 and $1.6 billion the year before. It is publicly traded on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange.
Massy has investments mainly in the Caribbean region in three areas: integrated retail; gas products; and motors and machines. It has significant operations in eight countries.
Massy said in the 2023 report that the group’s revenue was accounted for as:
Trinidad and Tobago, 32%; Barbados, 23%; Eastern Caribbean, 17%; Guyana, 13%; U.S., 11%; and Jamaica, 4%.
Massy’s annual report said it operates about 60 companies with more than 13,000 employees.
“A significant portion of the group’s operations are focused on the distribution and retailing of consumer products. As an organization we continue to attract a growing list of international and regional partners,” the site says.
The site says Massy has been 100% focused on the Caribbean, although now it is expanding into the U.S.
“Our group’s ownership of both distribution and 50 plus retail supermarkets throughout many of the key Caribbean markets allows for quick commercialization of products,” it says.
Massy Distribution services supermarkets, groceries, pharmacies, hospitals, variety stores, wholesalers, hardware stores, agricultural shops and industries, hotels, restaurants, and duty-free outlets across the major markets of the English-speaking Caribbean.
Massy Distribution USA, which it says is a “leading Caribbean distribution partner,” markets brands that include Silk, Biore, Purina, Duracell, Kraft Heinz, Stella, Swiss Miss, Act II, Duncan Hines, Ocean Spray, Valrico and Jergens.
It says its sales and marketing team can develop some of the best-known consumer brands throughout the Caribbean, “growing revenue and exceeding our partner’s strategic objectives.” It says it has “clear lines of distribution to 26 Caribbean territories.”
The site says the U.S. warehouse has duty-free warehousing.
Rowe’s an entry point
Massy Holdings Ltd., a Trinidad and Tobago-based holding company, said it paid $47 million in U.S. dollars for Rowe’s IGA Supermarkets on Dec. 12, 2022.
Massy Group says in its 2023 annual report that the seven Jacksonville Rowe’s IGA stores added more than 400 associates to the group and contributed revenue of $118.4 million in U.S. dollars in the 9.5 months after the acquisition.
It said the Rowe’s Supermarkets have been fully integrated into its retail operations, “and are out-performing initial expectations.”
“The acquisition provides the base for the further expansion of the Portfolio’s Retail footprint in the lucrative US market which is consistent with it achieving its ambitious growth objectives,” the annual report says.
MassyGroup.com says Massy Stores operates 57 retail stores in five markets in the Caribbean with several formats including supercenters, supermarkets, pharmacies, express, gourmet, home and a mega warehouse club in St. Lucia.
“We are the leading supermarket chain in the territories in which we operate,” it says.
The annual report increases that to 67 stores in six countries.
Upon the Rowe's purchase, Massy did not announce any plans for the supermarket chain, but said in a news release that it bought Rowe’s to expand its retail footprint in the U.S.
“The acquisition of Rowe’s Supermarkets is part of our integrated retail portfolio strategy to expand our footprint in the U.S. market,” said Aaron Suite, a director at Massy Integrated Retail Ltd., upon the purchase.
The 2023 annual report calls Rowe’s “an excellent beachhead for further niche supermarket acquisitions in the United States, while providing strength in hard currency cash generation.”
The company said in a December 2022 news release why it saw Rowe’s as a fit for acquisition.
“What attracted us to it was it was seven stores, so it wasn’t a complex business to get into,” Suite said.
“We met with the team and we have very similar styles of work, and the culture is very similar, so this is how we ended up with Rowe’s,” Suite said.
Rob Rowe established Rowe’s IGA in 2005 by acquiring stores closed by Albertsons Companies Inc. after that supermarket chain pulled out of the Jacksonville market.
Rowe is a former executive with the Albertsons and Winn-Dixie chains.
Rowe said Dec. 19, 2022, he would stay with the Jacksonville-based company. He is listed in state records as CEO of Massy Stores (USA) LLC.
Rowe said upon the sale that the Massy Group wanted to make a push into the United States, starting in Florida.
Suite said it would be a joint decision with the management team that has been operating the company.
“We will be actively looking and whatever makes sense, we’ll do,” Rowe said.