Developer Hillwood has filed preliminary civil-engineering plans with the city to grade about 243 acres of a 590-acre site at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville.
As the city’s master developer of the former naval air station, Dallas-based Hillwood has started seeking site-work approvals to mass-grade the property “for a future industrial facility.”
The city is reviewing site development plans for the Hillwood to clear Parcels L-O.
The project address is listed as 617 Water Works St. and specified as the West Phase of the parcels. BGE Inc. in Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
Plans indicate that 243.52 acres of the site is the acreage to be disturbed.
The grading and drainage plan shows a proposed building of 1,006,880 square feet.
No tenant or user is identified.
“It’s part of the early-stage preparation for our next development site at Cecil,” said Hillwood Executive Vice President Dan Tatsch by email April 13.
He said he had no details to share. “We’re still evaluating several possible development scenarios.”
The site may sound familiar as being of interest for a “significant industrial user,” a project that seems to be dormant.
As of January, city power provider JEA disapproved the first review cycle for the “Significant Industrial User” that was exploring about 300 acres at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center for a manufacturing facility that would use an average of up to 600,000 gallons of water a day.
“I know the water user hasn’t been a project that has been active,” said Ed Randolph, executive director of the Jacksonville Office of Economic Development, on April 10.
“I don’t think there is any movement at all as far as I know,” he said.
Tatsch said April 13 he had no comment about that user.
As of January, JEA requested that applicant BGE Inc. schedule a meeting with the city utility to discuss project details. BGE Inc. would need to resubmit the application when the JEA’s comments are addressed.
JEA review is part of a developer’s due diligence before pursuing a project.
The mass-grading site work now in review for Parcel L-O is the same geographic description as the “significant industrial user.”
The service availability request was for Parcel L-O and specified 617 Water Works St., on the west end of that street. The street is also called Waterworks in some uses.
The site is west of the Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC distribution center, which is at 4950 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway.
An AllianceFlorida site plan shows Parcel L at 146.98 acres and Parcel O at 152.37 acres.
The Duval County Property Appraiser says the real estate parcel identified in the industrial user application totals 582.79 acres.
Randolph said April 10 the mass grading could be related to Hillwood’s agreement with the city to complete 7 million square feet of development at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce by 2030 to remain in compliance with the 2010 Master Disposition and Development Agreement. AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center comprises part of the property that was owned by the U.S. Navy and operated as Naval Air Station Cecil Field, which the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission approved for closure in 1999.
Randolph said Hillwood has completed a little more than 4 million square feet.
“I know they have another benchmark to meet,” Randolph said.
Tatsch said the contractual development benchmarks “are one of several factors we consider as we plan for future projects.”
As master developer, Hillwood provides quarterly development activity reports to the city about AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
In December, Hillwood’s third-quarter 2025 report to the city says it continued to track, since late 2023, a prospect interested in leasing 1 million to 1.5 million square feet of space for “automated distribution” in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
The report mirrored the previous quarterly report that the prospect first contacted Hillwood in late 2023 and ended the third quarter of 2025 appearing “to be considering several states” and did not say when it expected to move forward.
“As of this moment, that specific prospect continues to move slowly, so we’re not planning the mass-grading with that particular prospect in mind,” Tatsch said April 13.