The Caribbean Cold Storage building at 1505 Dennis Street.

Nearly a mile in length, dating back to 1893 and why there is a Rail Yard District, Honeymoon Yard is where the CSX Transportation (CSX), Florida East Coast (FEC), and Norfolk Southern (NS) railroads converge. For many years, the Caribbean Cold Storage, Inc. was once the largest refrigerated transporter serving the Caribbean market out of JAXPORT. Its 85,000 square-foot Dennis Street complex was one of Honeymoon Yard’s oldest continuing operating industrial sites. It opened as the Florida Ice Manufacturing Company during the late 1890s. In 1910, the company merged with Atlanta-based Atlantic Ice & Coal Corporation. The merger was arranged by Ernest Woodruff. Woodruff was one of Atlanta’s most influential figures of the early 20th century. There he founded one of Atlanta’s earliest electric trolley lines, restructured the Atlantic Steel Company and took over the Coca-Cola Company in 1919. At Honeymoon Yard, this facility manufactured ice for household and railcar use. In 1935, the company purchased Atlanta-based brewery Atlantic Ice & Bottling, becoming the South’s the largest regional brewer. Evolving with the times, as the need for ice manufacturing declined, the Dennis Street site’s focus changed to cold storage, eventually becoming Caribbean Shipping & Cold Storage in 1994.

The intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Dennis Street in 1928. The original Atlantic Ice & Coal Corporation ice plant can be seen in the background on the left. (Courtesy of the City of Jacksonville)

After closing a few years ago, the vacant complex was acquired by 95 Arch Partners QOZ Fund LLC. in September 2019. The development team that includes Tom Finnegan of Charleston, South Carolina, Ken Grimes, senior managing director and partner of Patterson Real Estated Advisory Group in Charleston, and Trip Stanly, managing member of Blackwater Capital LLC in Jacksonville, plans to transform the property into a mixed-use project called Dennis + Ives.

The Caribbean Cold Storage building at 1505 Dennis Street.

While the oldest buildings on the property were gobbled up by Interstate 95, the developers plan to convert the remaining buildings into a mix of uses, possibly including creative office, craft brewery or distillery, cafe, restaurant and outdoor event space. Named for the cross streets of Dennis and Ives, conceptual plans prepared by Jacksonville-based Design/Cooperative LLC. for the 5.5-acre development are illustrated and described below.

Dennis + Ives

Rendering of Dennis + Ives

Rendering of Dennis + Ives