Benderson Development Co. is moving its 1,003-acre North Jacksonville bet into the utility-review phase, asking the city-owned JEA to scope out how much water and wastewater muscle it will take to serve a massive mixed-use project north of Pecan Park Road. The filing, branded the Bacardi Master Plan, sketches out roughly 2.66 million square feet of industrial space, about 380,752 square feet of retail with a Publix in the mix, 67,000 square feet of medical use and housing that could include about 623 single-family homes, 550 multifamily units and 228 townhomes. The land sits between Main Street and Interstate 95, just north of the Bacardi bottling plant and within sight of Jacksonville International Airport.
As reported by the Jax Daily Record, Benderson filed its request with JEA on Monday, asking for a service-availability review for the full build-out. The Bacardi Master Plan drawing shows two main internal roads tying into Pecan Park Road and splits the property into Bacardi West, with industrial, retail, medical and multifamily uses, and Bacardi East, which is reserved for single-family homes and townhomes. The submission is an early, nonbinding move that lets both the developer and the utility start putting numbers to capacity, connections and cost.
Council Sign-Offs And Publix Exception
Major land-use questions are already off the table. The City Council rezoned the tract to a Planned Unit Development in 2025, then followed up with a green light for a liquor exception tied to the planned Publix and a separate Publix Liquors in the project’s commercial center. Records from the City of Jacksonville show Ordinance 2025-0763 was enacted on Nov. 12, 2025, authorizing retail sales and service of all alcoholic beverages at the grocery store and the stand-alone liquor store, and mapping a new internal roadway called Nexus Place.
What Goes Where
According to the Jax Daily Record, the site plan pushes large industrial buildings up against I-95, with retail and medical space lining up closer to Pecan Park Road. The eastern side is earmarked for the quieter stuff: single-family neighborhoods and townhome streets. The master plan calls for two warehouse buildings of about 1,000,000 square feet each and a third industrial building of roughly 657,600 square feet fronting the interstate, while the retail is clustered in a plaza anchored by a grocery store. If it all comes together as drawn, the timberland out there would be converted over time into a mix of logistics centers, shopping and new subdivisions, likely in several long phases rather than one big push.
Why JEA's Review Matters
JEA’s service-availability check is the technical first gate for a project of this scale. The review determines whether existing water and wastewater systems can realistically handle the new demand and what upgrades might have to be built before people move in or freight trucks roll out. As outlined by JEA, developers submit conceptual plans so the utility can estimate capacity, connection fees and timing. Those details often end up deciding how a project is phased and how expensive each phase will be.
An Industrial Bet
The industrial side of the plan is not arriving in a vacuum. Jacksonville has been on a run of large warehouse deals, especially on the Northside. A Colliers Q3 2025 report points to a jump in speculative industrial construction and continued tenant demand across Northside submarkets, suggesting the region can absorb big chunks of new logistics space even as vacancy and rents move around.
Next Steps And Timeline
The JEA filing is only the opener. Benderson will still have to clear traffic impact studies, horizontal-construction approvals and environmental permits before anything vertical comes out of the ground. City records link the existing PUD approvals to traffic-study conditions, and Benderson has already brought in engineers for environmental work, including a 2019 permitting push noted by WRA Engineering. Duval County property records, through the Duval County Property Appraiser, list the nearby Bacardi Bottling facility at 12200 N. Main St., a reminder that this corner of the Northside has long had an industrial backbone.
The JEA paperwork does not spell out any construction schedule. If past mega-projects in Northeast Florida are any guide, this one is likely to unfold over several years, paced by market demand, permits and utility capacity. For now, the public breadcrumbs to watch are JEA’s service-availability letter, the coming traffic studies and any future tenant announcements for the industrial and retail sections. The dirt will move when those pieces line up.
