U.S. Joist Corporation is coming to the Pierce County Industrial Park. So is company president Brenton Franklin and his family. The Pierce County Industrial Development and Building Authority (PCIDBA) meeting announced last week after a brief closed session they had unanimously agreed to sell 10 acres of land to U.S. Joist Corporation for $8,500 per acre.
Part of a recent document sent to the IDA by the company reads in part, “U.S. Joist is focused to provide the most efficient and cost-effective structural framing solution for our customer’s projects. To best serve our customer, we believe Pierce County would be an ideal fit to our growth.”
In a phone interview last Friday, Hilliard native Franklin said he and his family, including his two young daughters, would be permanently relocating to Pierce County. Franklin said he would like to have everyone settled in prior to his girls, 3 years old and one year old respectively, entering pre-school.
“The reason we picked Blackshear is the land was available and we wanted to leverage the local workforce,” says Franklin. Already familiar with the local community from attending Emanuel Baptist Church, Franklin thinks Blackshear has the right kind of people to make the new facility a success.
Construction on a proposed 20,000 square foot enclosed steel building is scheduled to begin later this year and estimated to be complete sometime in 2026. The structure will house a joist manufacturing facility and interior office spaces. Phase two of the construction, outlined for sometime in 2027, calls for expansion of the the new plant that would double it in size and also include a 10,000 square foot warehouse.
Once completed, the facility will generate 30 - 50 new local jobs.
The production facility will build open web floor trusses with wood sourced from Varn Wood Products in nearby Hoboken. U.S. Joist will sell direct to multifamily and single family contractors and retailers, already having a relationship with ACE Hardware in Florida.
With their design headquarters located in Jacksonville and maintaining the preexisting plant in Hilliard, the new Blackshear facility is part of U.S. Joist’s larger strategy to supply their products to clients from Charlotte to Orlando. Franklin says that eventually he will also construct offices for his contracting business next to the proposed factory.
