Southeast Toyota, JAXPORT announce $210M agreement to relocate and expand operations

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) and Southeast Toyota took what economic development leaders call “a transformative step” today.

The Port Authority’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a $210 million lease and relocation agreement with the world’s largest independent distributor of Toyota vehicles.

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Action News Jax’s Courtney Cole explains what this means for JAXPORT, Jacksonville and the growing demand for vehicles throughout the nation.

“We’re very excited,” Casey Gunnell Jr., the Group Vice President of Southeast Toyota Distributors, exclaimed.

The $210 million long-term lease and relocation agreement means Southeast Toyota will relocate both of its lots to a single 88-acre property at JAXPORT’s Blount Island.

Right now, the two Southeast Toyota lots are separated by Talleyrand Avenue.

“There’s no additional space to expand around Talleyrand, so, Blount Island gives us an additional 13 acres right off the bat,” Gunnell told Action News Jax.

The Group Vice President of Southeast Toyota also explained that this move will allow them to be more efficient.

“We measure efficiency by how many times we have to move the vehicle while it’s here. We’ll have to move the vehicle less as a result of having that one contiguous piece of property,” Gunnell said.

Southeast Toyota has been operating at JAXPORT for more than 50 years, moving 157,000 cars through JAXPORT in 2021.

Aundra Wallace with JAXUSA said the partnership between Southeast Toyota and JAXPORT is important for the entire region for many reasons, including jobs.

JAXUSA Partnership is the private, nonprofit division of JAX Chamber. It oversees the economic development of the seven counties in Northeast Florida.

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“We do not want to lose, not one job, to any particular region. So, this expansion keeps all 800 jobs. And I’m sure there will be expansions equally as well down the line, adding additional jobs to this region,” Wallace said.

JAXPORT will also make $178 million over the life of this new partnership.

“Toyota is being processed here. Toyota and Lexus for that matter, we process annually over 100,000 (vehicles) through our JAXPORT terminal. If you look out into the future, we’re going to see nothing but growth when it comes to Toyota vehicles coming in from other countries through this facility. It’s also exciting for us because electric vehicles, as they start to become designed and produced by Toyota, we will also (be) processing those through Blount Island as well,” Gunnel said.

The agreement is for 25 years, with three additional five-year renewal options.

“Our intention was to stay in Jacksonville as we looked for a new facility. We’ve had great partnership with JAXPORT to find a suitable location and to keep our employment here in Jacksonville steady for the next several years,” Gunnell told Action News Jax.

Southeast Toyota and the Florida Department of Transportation will be splitting the construction costs of the new facility evenly, each contributing $16.5 million.

The facility is expected to be finished in late 2024.

Gunnell said they hope to have the design of the facility done by October.

“They stepped up, they made this partnership work with JAXPORT and this is going to be continued growth for our region,” said Wallace.

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