It is part of the company's decision to consolidate its 12 U.S. distribution facilities housing food or consumer goods into six facilities with both, according to a broker who represented Unilever.

Duke Realty Corp. will build both the Jacksonville facility and an 822,000 square foot Southwest distribution center in the Dallas metro area, the last two regions of the company's U.S. distribution center system to be consolidated. Indianapolis-based CSO Architects Inc. designed both the Jacksonville and the Dallas-area facilities.

Site preparation has started on the Jacksonville facility, which should be completed in September.

Neither Duke Realty nor the U.S. headquarters of Unilever in New Jersey would disclose the cost of construction, but Duke Realty paid about $6 million for the 50 acres just north of Interstate 10 and west of Interstate 295, according to Duval County Clerk of the Courts records. Duke bought the land from Norfolk Southern Corp., the railway company that is developing the Westlake Industrial Park.

Duke Realty, based in Indianapolis, is a real estate investment trust that owns, manages or is developing 129 million rentable square feet of mostly industrial and office space in 22 U.S. cities, including 5.7 million square feet of space and 264 acres of land for future development in Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale. The Westlake Industrial Park facility is the company's first development project in Jacksonville, according to a spokesman for Duke Realty.

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