Originally appeared in Jacksonville Business Journal.
By Kaitlyn McCue – Reporter, Jacksonville Business Journal
Aug 8, 2022
Supply chain company FlexCold is set to open its first Jacksonville facility later this month — and is already talking about the possibility of expanding the site.
FlexCold is bringing the 150,000-square-foot cold storage facility to the area at a time when demand for cold storage is heating up, with the company saying it could double the size of the operation in the future.
The $50 million facility is slated to open Aug. 22. Situated about three miles from Jaxport‘s terminals at Blount Island and Dames Point, the site has a storage capacity of over 25,000 pallet positions with a 50-foot clearance, blast freezing capabilities at 12 loads a day (or nearly 300 pallets), and a 38-degree cold dock.
“We identified the opportunity for Jacksonville and broke ground a year ago here in July. It’s been off to the races since then,” FlexCold President Craig Turner told the Business Journal. “The growth opportunity that’s really happening at the ports and trades, it’s one of the ideal spots for this kind of business – for cold storage distribution centers that can support really all types of the grocery or food industry.”
FlexCold is a project by Charleston, South Carolina-based FLEXSPACE, a company that designs and builds warehouses with a focus on efficiency and density.
The Jacksonville warehouse will feature mobile racks, Turner said, increasing the density of storage in the facility.
FlexCold plans to employ 60 to 70 workers in the automation-heavy facility. As well as Turner, the FlexCold management team includes Vice President of Sales Mark Schultz, who spent 13 years as general manager of Preferred Freezer Services in Jacksonville.
The distribution center plans on focusing on primarily protein and poultry exports and seafood imports, as demand for each climbs drastically, Turner said.
“That’s going to be a huge market for us and there’s enormous opportunity. We’re trying to find how we can fit our business around where the greatest opportunity is, and it’s in those areas,” said Turner.