Top Deal: Cosentino Group plans $270 million first phase of manufacturing plant (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Daily Record) — In May 2023, Cosentino Group announced Jacksonville’s Cecil Commerce Center as the site of the Spain-based international company’s first manufacturing facility in the U.S.
Cosentino, a maker of sustainable countertops, flooring, facade materials and other surfaces for architecture and building design, plans to break ground on a $270 million first phase of its Jacksonville production plant in January 2025. That phase includes a 408,000-square-foot production facility and 734,000 square feet of adjacent support areas.
Cosentino said it would hire 180 employees for the site, which could grow to $440 million if future phases are added as planned.
Forbes reported that after considering sites in Georgia, Texas and Florida, the company chose Jacksonville because of the talent and depth of the city’s labor pool, its port and its access to railways.
Cosentino plans to begin production at the facility in 2028.
The Jacksonville City Council approved a land sale and incentives package for Cosentino that included a sale price of $20.5 million for 330 acres, a $12 million property tax incentive and $5.5 million in debt spending to pay for a $3 million Logistics Land Road extension at Cecil and pay $2.5 million for JEA to make sewer and water infrastructure improvements at the site.
A separate ordinance appropriated $5.5 million awarded by the state in November from the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund to put toward a CSX Corp. rail line extension at the business park.