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Hillwood Working With Prospect For Large Distribution Center At Cecil Commerce Center

Jacksonville Daily Record
Hillwood is the master developer for AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.

As it prepared to develop a warehouse for Wayfair Inc., Hillwood responded to another prospect this summer seeking a lease for a 1.5 million-square-foot distribution center at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.

Boston-based e-commerce home-furnishings retailer Wayfair will lease a 1 million-square-foot distribution center to be built at the Westside business park.

Our Jacksonville Daily Record news partner reports Dallas-based Hillwood told the city Monday it responded to a request for proposal from the larger prospect, which did not reach any decision about the proposed facility during the reporting period.

As the master developer at AllianceFlorida, Hillwood must file quarterly activity reports with the city. The third-quarter report filed Monday was for July 1 through Sept. 30.

The large prospect was not identified in the report.

Hillwood also did not identify Wayfair in the third-quarter report but said it agreed to letter-of-intent deal terms with a confidential prospect seeking to lease a 1 million-square-foot distribution facility.

After that, Hillwood and the prospect began negotiating a definitive lease agreement and defining a detailed construction scope for the facility. At the end of the quarter, the negotiations were “still in progress.”

Hillwood said it started development work on the land – Parcels A and B.

In December, the city and Wayfair announced plans for the $72 million, 250-job Westside distribution facility in AllianceFlorida. City Council approved incentives for the deal under the code name Project Empire.

Hillwood filed plans with the city in September seeking civil plan review to clear a site for a 1.5 million-square-foot warehouse on Parcels H and I near POW-MIA Memorial Parkway.

Hillwood said in the third-quarter activity report it began the land entitlement process “should a prospect materialize for the parcels.”

In addition to those projects, Hillwood said it:

• Received and responded to an initial inquiry from a company seeking 20 to 30 acres for a 300,000-square-foot distribution center.

• Received and responded to a preliminary inquiry from a developer interested in buying land for a 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot industrial build-to-suit for an undisclosed client.

Hillwood also reported that JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. continued to make progress on tenant improvements for its solar-panel assembly plant.

Hillwood also said it completed tenant improvements for England Trading Co., which operates as Industry West, which sells furniture over the internet.

JinkoSolar leases 285,652 square feet in the 407,435-square-foot building at 4660 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway. Industry West leases the remaining 121,783 square feet of the building.