The Jacksonville Port Authority agreed on Tuesday to pay the premium price of $2 million in order to purchase the 2.4 acres of land required for a planned railroad yard in which cargo containers will be switched from trains to ships.
JaxPort is purchasing the parcel from a bigger tract of land of 37 acres, which comes with a full market value of $3.84 million for building investments and $7.55 million for land, claims the Duval County Property Appraiser's Office. The building was formerly the home to the CertainTeed Gypsum wallboard manufacturing plant, which closed down four years ago.
Buying the land is the last bit of property that the company will need in order to construct an intermodal container transfer facility. According to officials, the railway yard, which will be situated on the north side of St John's River just to the easy of the Dames Point Bridge, will be able to attract a lot more cargo for markets located across the Southeast.
JaxPort is to buy the 2.4 acres via a contract with Dames Point Development LLC and St John's Jacksonville LLC, with the sellers agreeing to spend approximately $30,000 in order to demolish an old office building that was part of the warehouse and a guardshack on the property. The sellers will also relocate utility lines. JaxPort will in turn reroute Dames Point Road and extend a railroad spur so that it can serve the remainder of the property.
Nancy Rubin, the spokeswoman for JaxPort, says that buying the property now means that it is possible for the company to be able to take advantage of $10 and $20 million federal and state grants for building the railroad yard.
