Council approves plans for Benderson’s 1,000 acre-plus North Jacksonville multiuse project

Government

More than 1,000 acres of timberland at Pecan Park Road and Interstate 95 are poised to be developed for commercial, industrial and residential uses under final action Feb. 11 by the Jacksonville City Council.

The 19-member Council voted unanimously on twin pieces of legislation to provide a land-use amendment and rezone the property, which is bordered to the west by Interstate 95 and CSX rail tracks to the east near North Main Street.

The more than 1,000-acre Benderson development at Pecan Park Road and Interstate 95 in North Jacksonville.

Benderson Development Co. LLC of University Park, near Sarasota, is the property owner. Benderson, a privately held real estate company, bought the majority of it in 2007 from Bacardi Bottling Corp., which operates a rum-bottling plant at 12200 N. Main St.

The votes came on:

• Ordinance 2024-0970, which adopts a Large-Scale Amendment to the Future Land Use Map of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan for the 1,003-acre property.

• Ordinance 2024-0971, which provides a rezoning from two previous Planned Unit Developments to a new PUD.

A site plan for the Benderson development shows commercial in Pod A adjacent to Pecan Park Road. Pod B is industrial along Interstate 95. Pod C is single-family homes and townhomes, Pod D is single-family homes and Pod E is conservation.

According to documents attached to the ordinance, the current land use is multiuse and light industrial. The new land use would be conservation on 28.74 acres, light industrial on 289.79 acres, community general commercial on 22.52 acres, medium density residential on 206.04 acres and low density residential on 413.82 acres.

Rezoning would be from two previous Planned Unit Developments to a new PUD.

The more than 1,000-acre Benderson industrial, warehouse, retail and grocery project north along Pecan Park Road east of Interstate 95

Rezoning conditions include a traffic study for the entire development and additional traffic studies for individual developments inside the property footprint as requested by the city Traffic Engineering Division and the Planning and Development Department.

The project, Bacardi Mixed-Use PUD, has been in review for years. As of June 2019, Benderson Development Co. LLC continued to submit construction plans with the city for a proposed almost 2.04 million square feet of warehouse space at the site.

Benderson previously applied to the St. Johns River Water Management District in April 2019 for an environmental resource permit. WRA Engineering of Tampa was the environmental consultant.