Current Outlook

The JEDC works closely with the JAXUSA Partnership, Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA), Enterprise Florida and other governmental and non-governmental groups, to draw and retain industrial, manufacturing, and distribution businesses, that have the potential to offer high wage jobs to the residents of Jacksonville. The JEDC and Hillwood recently finalized a 25-year, $1.3 billion agreement, making Hillwood the Master Developer of approximately 4,474 acres of City-owned property at Cecil. Click here to read more about the Hillwood deal.

JAXPORT has always been a major economic driver of the Jacksonville economy, adding 38,000 direct and indirect jobs and having more than $3 billion in annual economic impact. In 2005, JAXPORT signed a development agreement with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines to construct a $200-million, 158-acre container terminal by the Dames Point Bridge. The newly constructed terminal is expected to add $870 million in new economic benefits to the Jacksonville region including the creation of more than 1,600 port jobs and 4,000 indirect jobs. When operating at full capacity, the Mitsui facility is expected to handle 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), doubling the container throughput of JAXPORT. JAXPORT also signed an agreement with Korean-based Hanjin Lines for the development of a $300-million, 88-acre terminal capable of handling approximately 800,000 TEUs per year. The terminal, slated to open in 2014, is expected to have an estimated $1 billion economic impact and will add 5,600 direct and indirect jobs. These recent JAXPORT developments will triple the amount of container throughput in Jacksonville and potentially may double or triple the economic impact of the port if Jacksonville can ensure that landside benefits accrue to Jacksonville.

As the largest single industrial land holding in Jacksonville, Cecil Commerce Center® is well positioned to be the ultimate landside complement to JAXPORT and home to companies dependent on supply chain logistics. Major transportation investments at Cecil Commerce Center® include completion of the first section of Cecil Commerce Center® Parkway, a high speed interchange with I-10, and New World Ave., a four-lane spine road. All told, the local, state and federal agencies have spent more than $180 million on roadway and utility infrastructure improvements. There has been a lot of progress made at Cecil Commerce Center® since 2000, and there is great potential for Cecil to become one of the premier aviation, warehousing, distribution and logistical hubs of the southeast U.S. over the next twenty years.