JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A fast-rising national company with longtime roots in Jacksonville's port will expand by another 79 acres at the Talleyrand terminal and become one of the city's biggest port operators while handling a broad mix of cargo ranging from automobiles to paper products.
The JaxPort board on Monday approved a 30-year lease agreement with Enstructure to use waterfront space that Southeast Toyota Distributors will vacate when it moves in 2025 from Talleyrand to Blount Island.
JaxPort CEO Eric Green said Enstructure's expansion at Talleyrand could result in roughly 300 to 400 jobs.
Mayor Donna Deegan praised JaxPort for locking in a future tenant two years before Southeast Toyota relocates. She said Talleyrand is an important job source for nearby residents including the Eastside neighborhood where the city and non-profit organizations have banded together to try to break the grip of poverty.
"Today's announcement is both a win for our port and a win for our community," Deegan said in remarks to the board. "This announcement comes on the heels of incredible work by business and community leaders who are plotting a path to eradicate generational poverty."
Deegan tied what's happening at Talleyrand to the city's ongoing negotiations with the Jaguars for a massive renovation of the city-owned football stadium. Deegan has said any stadium deal should bring benefits to the Eastside neighborhood and other areas near the stadium.
"It is my belief that community investment is good for business, just as business investment is good for the community," she said. "Today is another shining example of how we can move forward together."
Enstructure will pay $136 million to JaxPort over the term of the lease and also develop at least 200,000 square feet of warehouse space at Talleyrand. The cargo moved across the docks will be a mix of breakbulk, dry bulk, vehicles and containers.
Big metal box-shaped containers are the lifeblood of the global shipping trade as they carry consumer goods that end up on store shelves. But non-containerized cargo has been gaining a bigger share of cargo.
With the additional warehouse space planned by Enstructure, JaxPort's on-terminal ability to move non-containerized cargo will increase by 20%, including forest products, according to JaxPort.
"We see Jacksonville an an incredible market in terms of the cargo we're handling, but also for growth opportunities beyond that," Enstructure co-CEO and chairman Matthew Satnick said.
He said Florida is a high-growth state and Jacksonville's port is well-connected to serve that demand.
Enstructure formed in 2016 and operates 21 terminals in nine states. The company, which is based in New York City and Wellesley, Mass., has been purchasing existing companies to create a transportation network along the East Coast, the Gulf Coast and some inland waterways.
In Jacksonville, Enstructure is the parent company of Seaonus Stevedoring that has been at Talleyrand for 27 years and operates on about 35 acres. When the lease starts for the bordering land, Enstructure's total footprint will be about 115 acres and it will be a seamless operation, Satnick said.
Green said Enstructure is well-positioned to capture the bulk and breakbulk cargo the port wants to increase over the next five years.
City Council President Ron Salem, who previously was the council's liaison to JaxPort, said the Enstructure lease "will ensure the port and the community are well-positioned for long-term success" by following through on goals for getting more non-containerized cargo such as paper products.
Green said that kind of cargo mix will protect the port from global events that can affect portions of the shipping industry.
"We always look at diversification," he said. "You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket."