The seller is Bacardi Bottling Corp., which was represented by Colliers Dickinson SVP Hobart Joost Jr. Joost tells GlobeSt.com that Bacardi sold the land because it is divesting of all non-core assets.

Joost adds that the impetus for the sale was the influx of Asian shippers to the Jacksonville Port. Mitsui is constructing a terminal and Han Jin has future plans to construct a terminal. With the West Coast ports at capacity, many Asian shippers are seeking East Coast locations to accommodate customers in the Sunbelt region. Jacksonville is an attractive East Coast location because Interstate 10, which connects the East and West Coasts, ends in Jacksonville.

"As a result of the Asian shippers, developers are buying large tracts of land to build large distribution buildings," he says. "After the Mitsui terminal is completed, it is estimated that Jacksonville will be eight million sf short of industrial product."