MONDAY February 18, 2019
Public legal notices begin on page 3
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
THE MATHIS REPORT
GE Appliances consolidating within former Sears center
Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
Nearly $60M in investment coming to North Jacksonville
The 815,000-squarefoot warehouse was vacated in March.
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
JACKSONVILLE
Special to the Daily Record
An artist’s rendering of the 300,000-square-foot warehouse Cra-Z-Art will lease at 10501 Cold Storage Road in Imeson Park.
Cra-Z-Art, Preferred Freezer Services projects are on track for construction.
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
More than 100 full-time and seasonal jobs and almost $60 million in capital investment are on the way to North and Northwest Jacksonville. The city approved a permit Wednesday for VanTrust Real Estate LLC to
proceed with construction of Imeson 300, a facility that will be leased to Cra-Z-Art for manufacturing in North Jacksonville. Also Wednesday, a permit was requested for construction of a coldstorage facility for use by Preferred Freezer Services in Northwest Jacksonville. Both projects applied for incentives. Cra-Z-Art will lease a 300,000-square-foot building under development at 10501 Cold Storage Road in Imeson Park. The city approved the foundation permit at a cost of $11.7 million. Evans General Contractors of Alpharetta, Georgia, is the contractor. Cra-Z-Art sells activity, art and
school supplies, toys and stationery products and will relocate manufacturing and distribution from the Midwest and New Jersey. The company is a division of LaRose Industries LLC, which is based in Randolph, New Jersey. Cra-Z-Art proposes to hire 21 fulltime production supervisors, management staff and warehouse personnel in Jacksonville by year-end 2021 at an average $53,298 annually. It says it could hire 50 seasonal employees annually. City Council approved incentives in November for the project, known then as Project Buckeye.
Vacant for almost a year, the former Sears warehouse in North Jacksonville that was considered to be the largest industrial building available for lease in the state now has a tenant. Pattillo Industrial Real Estate Vice President Peter Anderson said the 815,000-square-foot North Jacksonville warehouse will be leased to GE Appliances for a distribution center. Pattillo affiliate Stone Mountain Industrial Park Inc. owns the property. “Having the building is what brought the deal together,” Anderson said Friday. Anderson said GE Appliances already leases space in Jacksonville and will consolidate those operations into the larger building at 2969 Faye Road. The company will begin moving this summer, he said. “GE Appliances has been here a long time,” he said. It “has a long history in Jacksonville.” He said GE Appliances leases a warehouse on Whittaker Road. Property records show the almost 480,000-square-foot warehouse was built in 1995 at 600 Whittaker Road in Imeson International Industrial Park. The Faye Road site is 8 miles east of the Imeson location. Anderson said GE Appliances leased additional space on occasion. “They decided they wanted to consolidate, and our building just worked perfectly for them,” he said. GE Appliances spokeswoman Julie Wood said Friday the company has plans to move its Jack-
SEE MATHIS, PAGE 2
SEE GE PAGE 2
Canopy Road Cafe to open Feb. 23 Tallahassee-based Canopy Road Cafe announced Thursday that its grand opening in South Jacksonville is Feb. 23. The 56-seat restaurant, which the company describes in a news release as a modern diner concept, is in the Shoppes of Bayard at 12525 Philips Highway. Canopy Road Cafe serves traditional breakfast and lunch fare. Breakfast items include pancakes, waffles, French toast, skillets and build-your-own omelets. Lunch includes sandwiches, salads, wraps and half-pound burgers. Most entrees are $8 to $10.
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