The city continues reviewing a building-permit application and now final building plans for tenant build-out for internet retailer Amazon at 1700 Imeson Road, which is Building 2 in the 39.13-acre Commonwealth Logistics Center in West Jacksonville.
Bryan Builders LLC of Longwood is listed as the contractor for the $16.6 million project to build-out 260,970 square feet of space in the building.
The city targets a review date of March 11.
The park is at southwest Imeson Road and Commonwealth Avenue, near Interstates 10 and 295, which both connect to Interstate 95.
The project is described as a warehouse package-type facility including package sorting and delivery. Plans do not name Amazon, which was identified in other documents.
On June 21, 2024, the city granted an administrative deviation from the city zoning code, saying the property owner was retrofitting the warehouse to provide for Amazon in the 272,190-square-foot structure built in 2023.
The deviation allows Amazon to provide 460 parking spaces on the site, up from the maximum 150 that had been allowed.
The city noted that the tenant proposed distributing through passenger vehicles. The 460 spaces would be used for the parking demands for employees and the flexible loading on-site.
The city then issued a horizontal development permit July 17, 2024, for removing the existing striping/curb and restriping the existing vehicle use at a project cost of $100,000.
Plans referred to the project as SJA1 and Project Teapot. Documents confirmed it as Amazon.
That code does not confirm but does hint that it might be a same-day delivery center.
Amazon uses codes for its properties. SJA1 means it is the first of its variety in Jacksonville.
S matches the code used for one of Amazon’s newest same-day sites in Sacramento, California — known as SCA5
There’s no explanation why it is called Project Teapot.
The property owner is listed as AIREIT Commonwealth Logistics Center LLC, in care of Ares Management LLC in Denver. InLight Real Estate Partners of Ponte Vedra Beach developed the park.
Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. is the civil engineer.
Amazon.com has 11 facilities in the region. The Commonwealth warehouse would be the 12th.
The Seattle-based online retailer opened its first two fulfillment centers in September 2017 in Northwest Jacksonville and October 2017 in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville, with the help of $26.7 million in city and state incentives for creating 2,700 jobs.
Since then, it opened another fulfillment center, two sortation centers, a heavy bulk freight center and several delivery stations.
None of those subsequent facilities received incentives.
JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace said June 4, 2024, at a NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association meeting that Jacksonville is a gateway for Amazon.
“... in the state of Florida, we have more Amazon distribution facilities in this entire Northeast Florida region than anywhere else in the entire state of Florida,” Wallace said.
Globest.com, a commercial real estate site, reported April 16, 2024, that Amazon is doubling down on the strategy it introduced in 2023 to regionalize its retail distribution network and run the whole logistics network with AI-driven inventory control by rapidly expanding its same-day delivery capacity.
The site said the online retailer is focused on speed - it can assemble and ship customer orders at same-day facilities in as little as 11 minutes - and increasing its share of the growing market for same-day delivery of perishable food and medicine.
Forbes.com reported Aug. 4, 2023, that according to Marc Wulfraat, president of the supply chain consulting firm MWPVL International, Amazon operated 48 sub-same-day (SSD) facilities that cover 100,000 to 330,000 square feet and fulfill orders in fewer than five hours. Wulfraat noted that four additional fulfillment centers were under construction and Amazon could scale up to 150 locations in the following three years.
Cushman & Wakefield Managing Directors Tyler Newman and Jacob Horsley are representing Commonwealth Logistics Center, which was scheduled for delivery for tenant build-out in the second quarter of 2023.
The property brochure shows that 121,938 square feet remains available for lease in Building 1.
Building 1, at 230,060 square feet, is at 7489 Commonwealth Ave. HVAC manufacturer Daikin is leasing the remaining space.