Jacksonville is competing with two other places to bring in 75 new high-paying jobs from Anheuser-Busch, which plans to expand one of its can manufacturing plants.
If the city is chosen, Anheuser-Busch subsidiary Metal Container Corp. would complete a $170 million expansion of its facility on North Ellis Road on the Westside: $40 million in real estate improvements and $130 million in manufacturing equipment.
“Obviously it’s a competition,” says Ted Carter, executive director of the Office of Economic Development in Jacksonville. “But we think we have a compelling offer to secure and win this.”
The city is offering to pay up to $12 million to the company in a Recapture Enhanced Value grant, which Carter says rebates part of the increase in taxes that comes with capital investment. The payment would begin the first year after construction is completed. It would only apply to city taxes, according to a project summary memo from the Office of Economic Development.
Anheuser-Busch wants a Qualified Target Industry grant of $3,000 per new job. The City is offering to pay $600 for each job, which comes to a total of $45,000. The state would pay up to $180,000 to cover the rest.
Florida would also pay a cash grant of $2.4 million from the governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund, as well as a training grant up to $225,000. That brings the state’s total proposed contributions to $2.8 million.
Metal Container Corp. would build a 200,000 square-foot manufacturing facility and install aluminum bottle manufacturing equipment at its Jacksonville location. Anheuser-Busch has not said what the expansion would be for specifically.
The proposed expansion would bring 75 new jobs with a base salary of about $75,000 a year.
“That’s higher than what we typically see in Jacksonville,” Carter says. “We’re hopeful in the next several weeks we’ll have an answer.”
Anheuser-Busch currently has more than 700 employees in Jacksonville, including 163 at its Westside can manufacturing plant. The company is promising to retain those 163 jobs.
It is unknown which two other sites Jacksonville is competing.
A statement received from Anheuser-Busch states:
"We are currently evaluating multiple locations for a potential project, including two sites at our current operations in the Jacksonville area. The project is in the early stages and we look forward to working with local officials to understand incentive possibilities that would help support any investment. The location selection will not impact the viability of our existing breweries and can plant operations. We are proud to have been doing business in Florida for nearly 50 years."
Sign Up
