A major manufacturing operation is looking to set up shop in Baker County, bringing 160 jobs and $90 million in capital investment to the area.
The project, which the county has codenamed Project Zeus, would see a food services manufacturing facility built on 54 acres at Enterprise East Industrial Park. That site, which is owned by the Baker County Economic Development Commission, is a 250-acre industrial park that houses Walmart’s 100-acre distribution center.
Finding major users for the site has long been the grail sought by Baker County, the mainly rural county about 45 miles to the west of Jacksonville.
“I’ve been in this position 13-and-a-half years, and we’ve been working on it the whole time I’ve been here,” said Darryl Register, executive director of the Baker County Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Commission. “Over the 13 years, we’ve worked with a lot of different companies and site selectors and consultants. We’ve been close on some, and we’ve landed a few.”
That includes Walmart, which is the largest employer in Baker County. Its distribution facility is the largest building in the county, with more than 800,000 square feet of freezer/refrigeration space.
The county has also recently approved a development agreement with S2A Modular, which in October picked the Macclenny industrial park for its third megafactory.
S2A manufactures solar-powered luxury modular buildings, with the factory itself running off solar panels and Tesla PowerPack batteries.
The S2A facility being built in Baker will have 13 buildings totaling more than 240,000 square feet of industrial space, the company said.
“S2A Modular is growing at an incredible rate and as a company, we’ve already received an incredible amount of interest from homebuyers, developers and investors throughout Florida, so we are aggressively looking for the perfect location to build our third MegaFactory,” S2A CEO Brian Kuzdas said in a release when the company started looking for a site. “With two S2A MegaFactories already under construction in California, we’re immensely excited to work with economic development agencies to find a location which will create hundreds of jobs and help stimulate local, regional and state economies.”
The company, which bought about 51 acres for about $765,000, plans to hire 250 employees with salaries between $20 and $30 an hour and invest about $30 million in the factory, it said.
Meanwhile, as S2A was making a decision last year, the county was enmeshed in talks with the Project Zeus company, with discussions having started near the beginning of 2020, facilitated by Enterprise Florida.
To seal the deal, the county will provide the land for the manufacturing operation for free. It would also rebate 75% of property taxes for the first 10 years the facility operates and — through CareerSource Northeast Florida – would provide $240,000 in help hiring and training workers.
Citing confidentiality agreements, Register would not disclose details on the company, but said the project is poised to have a major impact on the local economy, boosting the county’s GDP by about $35 million.
As to when an official announcement will be made?
“Soon,” Register said. “I think it will be real soon.”