The proposed Airport Commerce Center is advancing in North Jacksonville as an up to 3.1 million-square-foot industrial park on 315.42 acres along Arnold and Pecan Park roads north of Jacksonville International Airport.
Legislation to rezone the land (Ordinance 2024-717) and for a large-scale amendment to the city’s 2045 comprehensive plan (2024-716) are in City Council review.
A concept plan filed with the legislation shows seven buildings from 141,960 to 1,071,360 square feet in size.
Flint Development LLC of Kansas is the developer for the Arnold Road PUD, which is the project name on the city legislation. It is also called Airport Commerce Center.
England-Thims & Miller Inc. is the civil engineer and the Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow law firm is the agent. Both are based in Jacksonville.
As reported in August, Flint Development is exploring development of Airport Commerce Center on land owned by Subema LLC of Tallahassee.
Subema requested an environment resource permit from the St. Johns River Water Management District that indicated a potential six-building industrial park comprising 1,861,880 square feet of space.
The concept plan dated Aug. 1, 2024, with the city legislation clarified the size as 2.89 million square feet among seven buildings.
The Planned Unit Development written description with the legislation says the maximum floor area is 3.1 million square feet.
That written description, dated Aug. 14, 2024, says the property is contemplated to be developed in three phases but that any portion can be developed “at the sole discretion of the Developer or owner of the Property, provided that there are available development rights and the proposed development complies with this PUD.”
The project site
The site is west of Interstate 95 and Pecan Park Road, and south of Gold Star Family Parkway.
The site is bordered to the north by a solar farm, to the east by Pecan Park Road, to the south by Jacksonville International Airport and to the west by Seton Creek.
The land would be rezoned from Public Building and Facilities-2, Public Buildings Facilities-3 and Industrial Light to Planned Unit Development to permit light industrial development.
The large-scale amendment would change the future land use designation from Agriculture and Public Buildings and Facilities to Light Industrial on about 229.01 acres.
The PUD was filed to unify the property under a singular zoning and to permit “consistent and compatible development” with the surrounding area, including the airport.
The description says vehicular access would be via Pecan Park Road and supported by a shared access easement with a parcel owned by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, which owns the airport, “which will ensure safe entry to the Property from Pecan Park Road.”
The description also says that England-Thims & Miller conducted a traffic impact study dated July 2024 at the request of the Florida Department of Transportation that determined the development “is not anticipated to have a significant or adverse impact on the State Highway System.”
The legislation was introduced Sept. 10 to Council and then to the Council Land Use & Zoning Committee. Public hearings are scheduled Oct. 15 at the Land Use & Zoning Committee and Oct. 8 and Oct. 22 at Council.
The property is in Council District 8, represented by Reggie Gaffney Jr.
The plans filed with the Water Management District were prepared for Flint Development of Prairie Village, a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas.
Peacock Consulting Group LLC, also based in Jacksonville, is the environmental consultant.
FlintDevelopment.com says its experience includes developing industrial and multifamily projects.
It says it has $2 billion and 18.5 million square feet of development in its project pipeline.
It says it has developed more than $568 million and nearly 7.44 million square feet of speculative industrial space to meet demand in key markets.
The developer’s site shows 28 industrial projects in 16 states, but none in Florida.
Its one Georgia project is the three-building Dorchester Commerce Park in Midway that totals more than 2.1 million square feet of space.
The project is off I-95, and the brochure says it is 95 miles north of Jacksonville.
Two buildings – 276,062 square feet and 594,552 square feet – are planned for completion this year.
A 1,244,571-square-foot building is slated for an April 2025 completion.
More project details
The Water Management District issued a formal wetland determination statement Aug. 4.
Subema LLC applied to the Water Management District on Aug. 2 for an environmental resource permit for the mass clearing and grading of the property, called Airport Commerce Center, as well as installation of stormwater ponds and control structures to support the development.
It is in process.
The application specified that about 214 acres would be graded on the 316-acre site.
A field exploration diagram showed six buildings of 141,960 to 544,320 square feet.
An executive summary from geotechnical consultant ECS Florida in Jacksonville said the firm understands that the project is an industrial warehouse development.
Subema acquired the land in 2022-23.
City utility JEA updated its service availability determination in April for Subema Industrial, initially reviewed in October 2022.
Subema Logistics was described as 2.5 million square feet of industrial space.
Saxum park
The Airport Commerce Center site is near Saxum Real Estate’s proposed almost 3.8 million-square-foot Arnold Road Industrial Park on more than 800 acres in North Jacksonville.
Those plans show 10 buildings that range from 126,080 to 1,061,760 square feet.
In emails and statements since Jan. 24, 2023, Saxum said it was working on the project with KABR Group, a private equity real estate firm based in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
Through Arnold Road PropCo LLC, Saxum paid almost $14.5 million in December 2022 for two parcels at Arnold Road and Gold Star Parkway.
It bought the land from Laurens Street LLC of Ponte Vedra Beach.
“Saxum and KABR are evaluating several options for the developable portion of the property including industrial use to support the continued growth of container volume at JAXPORT and the increased focus on freight at the Jacksonville International Airport,” Saxum said in a January 2023 statement.
“The project plans to address the undersupply of new, Class A industrial space, which is required to support the significant growth of logistics demand in the market.”
The KABR.com site shows the site plan and states that KABR and its joint venture partner, Saxum Real Estate, acquired the Arnold Road investment which includes over 800 acres of undeveloped land located in Jacksonville, Florida.”