Jacksonville's Dennis Street Warehouse District

[Metro Jacksonville]

Jacksonville's Dennis Street Warehouse District



A short distance from Jacksonville Terminal and downtown, a unique urban neighborhood offers a glimpse of Jacksonville's industrial past.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-mar-jacksonvilles-dennis-street-warehouse-district

[billy]

This is very interesting stuff. 
There is so much to explore throughout Jacksonville.

[Livein32206]

I often take Dennis street while biking from downtown to Riverside and was curious as to what many of those buildings were and are now. Good article

[strider]

It seems like places like this are prime for small "cottage" industries.  Purchase and lease rates must be low, lots of space availible and the issues like the smaller, more cramped loading docks are not as much of an issue to those smaller companies.  I would guess there are many of those types of companies there already that go unnoticed.

[Bativac]

This is a neat area. We had our children's book printed at Drummond Press which is on Dennis Street. They own a couple of the buildings, and if I'm not mistaken, the sales guy mentioned they bought a couple other buildings to expand their operation. Other than the press, the area gave off the air of an abandoned industrial site.

We got to tour the press. As a guy who spends all day long sitting in a cubicle, it's interesting to see what actual physical work looks like...!

[adamh0903]

The picture of cash building material does not that building justice, they acutally have a pretty nice building on Mccoys Creek blvd, or atleast it was nice place when i worked there.

[thelakelander]

Its still nice.  I've purchased bricks from them in the past for building projects I've been involved with.

[LPBrennan]

The tracks on Harper Street (one block south of Dennis) have been cut from active track since at least 1990 and probably earlier, but the tracks on Swan were still being used to deliver boxcars (probably baled scrap paper) to a warehouse on the north side of Swan until about 15 years ago. These tracks may still be connected. The switch for these tracks can be seen just south of the crossing on Dennis.
By the way: Be careful driving over the track switches in the pavement. I have seen a switch point cut a tire for instant blow-out. (They're not called points for nothing!)

[riverside_mail]

They are no longer connected. The tracks were ripped up and paved over behind the warehouse that sits at the corner of Dennis and Lemon (occupied by AT&T Wireless). The only tracks still used are the spurs used by Cash Building Supply.

[stjr]

Know what the biggest value is on Dennis Street today?  It's underground.  Major internet and communication fiber optic lines that track the mainline rail lines converging between Dennis and Beaver.  Already mentioned is an ATT center.  I also believe there is at least one colo computer center and a giant Verizon (acquired when they bought Worldcom) switch center (a very expensive newer building by the way) on Dennis.  No names posted, just windowless buildings.  I think Level 3 has a facility around the corner.  Dennis could one day be an internet backbone center for Jax.

Past Jax business legends on Dennis include Allstate Supply and Cain and Bultman.

Henry's Hickory House is a major employer and business just around the corner on Copeland between Forest and McCoy.  They process pork products including Tom and Teds Bacon brand.  Many may better know their sister company, Bubba Burgers.  The principals used to own the South Atlantic Cold Storage building at Stockton and Dennis pictured in your article:

Monday, May 21, 2001
South Atlantic Cold Storage sold
Jacksonville Business Journal - by Lisa R. Schoolcraft

Burris Logistics of Milford, Del., recently purchased the South Atlantic Cold Storage Group of warehouses.

South Atlantic Cold Storage Group, also based in Jacksonville, is one of the largest refrigerated warehouse company in the state, with facilities in Jacksonville, Orlando, Haines City and Lakeland.

The South Atlantic Cold Storage Group provides warehousing and logistics services to Dannon, Publix, ConAgra, Shaws Southern Belle, the U.S. government, and other food companies.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"The public refrigerator business is a consolidating business and Burris is in the process of building a brand new warehouse in Orlando," said Steve Coon, the executive vice president of South Atlantic Cold Storage Group. "They wanted a presence in Florida. We're one of the largest in Florida, so it was a good fit."

South Atlantic Cold Storage will change its name to Burris Refrigerated Logistics, a subsidiary of Burris Logistics.

Coon is also executive vice president of Henry's Hickory House in Jacksonville, Tom & Ted's bacon, with a production facility in Jacksonville.

Henry's Hickory House recently created a new firm, Bubba Foods to distribute the Bubba Burger brand of hamburgers, which has a production facility in Elberton, Ga., he said.

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2001/05/21/daily2.html

[9a is my backyard]

Interesting article.  I've driven through here on the weekends and often wondered if any of the buildings were still occupied.

[mtraininjax]

Dennis could one day be an internet backbone center for Jax.

With its close proximity to McCoy's creek, I highly doubt this is the best place for an internet backbone. Also, since most of the traffic comes from the business parks, most of which are on the southside, why would the internet hub be located so far away from the place where testing is so critical? It could be another place as a relay point, but its not the safest of neighborhoods after dark either, which leads to having higher costs for repairs at night.

[billy]

What is the address of the old Sears warehouse?

[LPBrennan]

I suspect that it is an internet connection point because of its proximity to the railroad tracks and the pl;ace where they connect for all directions. Many fiber optic lines are laid on railroad rights-of-way, as they are existing corridors and privately owned, so to a railroad it represents an additional source of revenue. The right-of-way is a reasonable secure place with little likelihood of excavation that could damage buried cable. Just as these corridors became a highway for communication in the Nineteenth Century with the telegraph wires strung beside the tracks, the practice continues.

[thelakelander]

What is the address of the old Sears warehouse?

106 Stockton Street
Jacksonville, FL 32204

It dates back to 1927 and has over 58,000 square feet of space.