Author Topic: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'  (Read 4824 times)

thelakelander

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Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« on: July 07, 2011, 06:51:31 AM »
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By David Bauerlein 

Plans to build a "superport" on about 1,000 acres on the Northside would make Keystone Industries a major force at Jacksonville's port, its president said Wednesday.

Tom Scholl discussed the plan after he joined Gov. Rick Scott and Mayor Alvin Brown for a ceremony dedicating a different Keystone project — the company's recently opened shipping terminal on 110 acres in the Talleyrand area.
Scholl said the Northside development would be 10 times as big as the Talleyrand terminal and would contain a manufacturing plant in addition to areas for cargo shipments.
"It's going to create thousands of jobs," he said.

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He did not elaborate during his speech. But after the event he said Keystone has entered into an agreement with landowner Abraham Zion to develop property owned by Zion along Heckscher Drive.

The plan envisions areas for cargo shipments and a manufacturing plant. The site would have railroad tracks to connect with a CSX line. The total cost would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Scholl said.

Scholl declined to identify the company that would do the manufacturing. He said the development would need a deeper ship channel to handle large, heavily loaded ships. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of studying the cost to deepen the river's 40-foot channel to 50 feet. The study compares the expense to the commercial benefits of a deeper channel.

Scholl said he wants the Zion property "to be a superport, and to be a superport, we have to have the dredging."
The Jacksonville Port Authority previously considered the Zion property as a site for a container cargo terminal for Hanjin Shipping. JaxPort pulled back when it couldn't reach a purchase agreement with Zion and decided to use land on Dames Point for Hanjin.

http://jacksonville.com/business/2011-07-07/story/company-plans-build-1000-acre-superport-jacksonvilles-northside
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acme54321

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2011, 07:51:05 AM »
Wow, that would be something serious. 

I guess this is the undeveloped area south of Imeson industrial park?
« Last Edit: July 07, 2011, 07:54:46 AM by acme54321 »

thelakelander

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2011, 08:32:11 AM »
I believe the Zion property straddles Eastport Road, near the paper mill.  I wonder would Heckscher Drive have to be elevated to allow for better access to the riverfront?
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” - Muhammad Ali

duvaldude08

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2011, 09:30:43 AM »
This would be a HUGE plus for us....
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Tacachale

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2011, 09:55:22 AM »
Wow, this would be major. Normally I wouldn't put much faith into a passing announcement like that but Keystone seems to be serious business. Could be great for our port.
Do you believe that when the blue jay or another bird sings and the body is trembling, that is a signal that people are coming or something important is about to happen?

SMoody84

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2011, 10:20:13 AM »
Would be fantastic.  BUT, the river needs to be dredged and Mile Point needs to be dealt with first.

acme54321

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2011, 10:39:20 AM »
I believe the Zion property straddles Eastport Road, near the paper mill.  I wonder would Heckscher Drive have to be elevated to allow for better access to the riverfront?

Lake you're right.  According to GIS the property is pasically everything along eastport outh of Kraft Rd, except the papermill site.  The parcel includes the strip along the river south of Heckscher where the Hess terminal is also.

It seems they would have to raise one of the Heckscher bridges as the current river frontage isn't that much.

acme54321

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2011, 10:41:34 AM »
Would be fantastic.  BUT, the river needs to be dredged and Mile Point needs to be dealt with first.

Hopefully something like this could make a major impact on the schedule for getting those two issues dealt with.

Captain Zissou

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2011, 11:01:19 AM »
Would be fantastic.  BUT, the river needs to be dredged and Mile Point needs to be dealt with first.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of studying the cost to deepen the river's 40-foot channel to 50 feet. The study compares the expense to the commercial benefits of a deeper channel.

This is a large scale project that would contribute directly to our local economy.  This isn't just cargo passing through our city, some of this cargo will originate or terminate within Duval county, which has a greater financial impact.  This would be adding a significant amount of money to the 'benefits' side, without adding much to the 'expense' side.  This will help us in the fight for federal dollars.

thelakelander

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2011, 11:03:21 AM »
We need to come up with about a $1 billion in funding to handle the dredging issue.  Without that, neither this nor Hajin will happen.  Any ideas of how to come up with that type of money for a city who's $62 million in the hole already?
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Captain Zissou

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2011, 11:09:20 AM »
We need to come up with about a $1 billion in funding to handle the dredging issue.  Without that, neither this nor Hajin will happen.  Any ideas of how to come up with that type of money for a city who's $62 million in the hole already?

A bake sale??

We could "assess a fee" on all marine related activities that would in 10 years be able to fund the port. 

Do we have any sort of revenue figures on what adding Hanjin and Keystone as well as the projected growth from other carriers if we do dredge the port??

SMoody84

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2011, 01:31:03 PM »
I like how Mayor Brown has hit the ground running as far as JaxPort goes!  I see he is touring JaxPort with Ray LaHood today.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-07-07/story/transportation-secretary-ray-lahood-tour-jacksonville-port-facility

Tacachale

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Re: Company plans to build 1,000-acre 'superport'
« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2011, 03:08:10 PM »
That's a good point, Lake. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Do you believe that when the blue jay or another bird sings and the body is trembling, that is a signal that people are coming or something important is about to happen?