VanTrust Sets the Stage for Spec Warehouse in Jacksonville
The city of Jacksonville issued a permit on Aug. 9 for MW Builders Inc. to build a speculative 547,000-square-foot warehouse at Imeson Park South at 1511 Zoo Parkway in North Jacksonville.
VanTrust Real Estate LLC is the developer, and the project has an estimated price tag of $1 million. It hasn’t announced the construction start. The pad is in place and the building should break ground soon, JLL told Commercial Property Executive.
The shell project, called Building 400 and Building D, is the fifth of VanTrust’s seven buildings to be constructed at Imeson Park South.
Two more structures are planned—Building B2, at 235,735 square feet, and Building F, at 216,320 square feet. Those are Buildings 600 and 700.
JLL Senior Managing Director Luke Pope and Vice President Ross Crabtree represent VanTrust in lease negotiations.
“The location is one of the best in Jacksonville,” Pope told CPE. “This is one of the last bulk sites available within Imeson Industrial Park and is centrally located between Jacksonville International Airport and JaxPort, roughly a mile away from I-95.”
Pope said he has been in touch with numerous industrial distribution-related tenants about the building and site but has not yet signed a lease.
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VanTrust Real Estate said the Imeson Park South master plan totals 3 million square feet of industrial space.
The 214-acre Imeson Park South property is south of VanTrust’s 146-acre Imeson Park, which totals about 2.5 million square feet and includes a 1 million-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center.
Last month, VanTrust Real Estate sold Primark at Imeson Park, a recently completed 550,243-square-foot facility within Imeson Park South. INDUS Realty Trust acquired the asset, which is fully leased to Primark.
This is Primark’s second distribution center in the U.S. and the first in Florida, with products arriving through JaxPort.
VanTrust Real Estate announced last month that it would develop a 746,672-square-foot build-to-suit facility for Sephora in Avon, Ind. The 61-acre property will serve as the beauty retailer’s Midwest distribution center. It is scheduled to come online next summer.
Jacksonville’s industrial market
Jacksonville’s industrial sector during the second quarter of this year saw a 210-basis-point increase in overall vacancy year-over-year, rising to 5 percent, according to a Cushman & Wakefield market report. Additionally, more than 1.5 million square feet were completed in the first half of the year, representing a 43.3 percent drop from the same period in 2023.
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