As developer Hillwood starts construction of its speculative Building E at Cecil Commerce Center at a project cost nearing $35 million, it now seeks a permit for the office space there at an estimated $1.35 million.
Hillwood Construction Services L.P. of Dallas is listed as the contractor for the 603,529-square-foot warehouse on 45 acres at 5550 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway in the West Jacksonville business park.
The city issued a permit March 5 for developer Hillwood to build the speculative shell Building E at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center at a project cost of almost $34.96 million.
The city now is reviewing a permit application for the “make-ready improvements” of 4,263 square feet of office space within the warehouse.
The work includes adding open office space and restrooms.
Developers say that prospective tenants on a quick timeline prefer to have office space ready for them to customize for their use.
Hillwood Executive Vice President Dan Tatsch said March 5 that he expected completion of the building in late September.
He said the building is designed to accommodate more than one tenant but Hillwood’s preference is to lease it to a single tenant.
Tatsch said there was no signed tenant, “but we’re talking with several prospects.”
The building site is at northwest POW-MIA Memorial Parkway and Finger Lake Street. It is north of the Florida State College at Jacksonville Cecil Center.
The city issued a site-clearing permit Aug. 23 for the project at a job cost of almost $12.1 million.
Site preparation contractor Morgan Corp. of Duncan, South Carolina, is the contractor on that permit.
Hillwood is the city’s master developer at the West Jacksonville industrial park.
Cecil Commerce Center is generally between Interstate 10 and Normandy Boulevard, with some property south of Normandy, on both sides of the parkway. It is west of Interstate 295.
The building is designed as a cross-dock facility to facilitate unloading products from an incoming truck and immediately reloading into outbound trucks or trailers.
Tatsch and Hillwood Senior Associate Brennen Clifford represent the project.
The city is the property owner. Dallas-based Hillwood is the operator.
BGE Inc. in Jacksonville is the civil engineer. SES Environmental Resource Solutions LLC of Jacksonville is the environmental consultant.
The city’s master development agreement calls for Hillwood to build-out AllianceFlorida on about 4,499 acres of city property, the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, off Normandy Boulevard and 103rd Street in West Jacksonville.
That agreement is designed for the city to share in the profits. As the master developer, Hillwood typically secures the tenant, buys the land from the city, develops the project and then sells it, sharing the proceeds with the city.