Georgia-Pacific invests $83M in Palatka mill warehouse expansion

Georgia-Pacific is investing $83 million to expand warehouse and distribution operations at its Palatka paper mill in Putnam County, adding 400,000 square feet of new space designed to ship household tissue products directly to major retailers including Walmart, Amazon, and Target.

The expansion at the county's largest private employer will create more than 20 new jobs and allow the mill to bypass third-party distribution centers, shipping finished products straight from the 6,600-acre facility about an hour southwest of Jacksonville. Construction is expected to be completed in June 2027.

What's happening

The $83 million project includes a new 400,000-square-foot warehouse that will connect to the existing mill facility, incorporating self-guided vehicles and advanced technology at loading docks. Georgia-Pacific has also built a 36-acre trailer yard with capacity for 574 trailers, a new inspection station, and a dedicated truck entrance on County Road 216.

The Palatka mill currently employs about 1,030 people across a 580-acre manufacturing operation on the larger mill property. Georgia-Pacific spokesman Chris Gent told JAXPORT that finished paper products currently route through regional distribution centers where multiple products are consolidated before shipment to retailers.

Once the new warehouse is operational, more consolidation work will be performed in Palatka. The mill manufactures tissue products for brands including Brawny, Sparkle, Angel Soft, and Quilted Northern, as well as private-label paper towels and bath tissue. It also produces kraft paper for recyclable mailers, grocery bags, and butcher paper, along with linerboard used in corrugated boxes.

The mill relies on JAXPORT as a gateway for imported raw materials. Nearly 450,000 tons of wood pulp move through the port each year to support paper manufacturing throughout the region—a 12 percent increase over the past three years. Georgia-Pacific imports approximately 75,000 tons of eucalyptus pulp from Brazil annually through the port, according to Vin Webster, vice president of manufacturing.

Economic impact on Putnam County

The expansion reinforces Georgia-Pacific's position as Putnam County's largest private employer and a cornerstone of the local economy. The mill's 1,030 direct employees generate an additional 2,426 indirect jobs in the community, according to the company.

More than 20 new jobs will be created through the expansion, though the company has not specified whether these positions will be warehouse operations, logistics coordination, or facility maintenance roles. Manufacturing facilities of this scale typically support a mix of skilled trades, equipment operators, and supervisory staff.

The project represents a bet on stable demand for household paper products. "Unlike discretionary purchases, consumers buy toilet paper and paper towels regardless of economic conditions," Gent said. "These are household staples with consistent demand. More people and more households naturally increase consumption of tissue products. "

For Putnam County, the investment signals confidence in the mill's long-term viability and the region's logistics infrastructure. Large capital projects of this type typically indicate a company expects decades of continued operation at a site, given the payback period required on tens of millions of dollars in fixed assets.

Supply chain and port connections

The expansion underscores the tight link between Northeast Florida's port infrastructure and inland manufacturing. JAXPORT serves as the critical gateway for the 75,000 tons of eucalyptus pulp Georgia-Pacific imports from Brazil each year—fiber essential to producing the soft, absorbent tissue products the mill manufactures.

The 12 percent increase in wood pulp volume moving through JAXPORT over the past three years reflects both the mill's growth and the port's expanding role in bulk and breakbulk cargo. That rising tonnage translates to more dockworker shifts, more trucking runs along the roughly 50-mile route from Jacksonville to Palatka, and more fee revenue for the port authority.

By consolidating distribution in Palatka rather than routing products through a Jacksonville warehouse, Georgia-Pacific aims to reduce transportation costs and improve shipping flexibility. The company said the change will help the mill respond more efficiently to retailer orders and better meet customer demand.

The shift could also reduce truck trips between Palatka and Jacksonville for finished goods, though it will likely increase outbound truck traffic from the Palatka site to retail distribution centers nationwide. The new trailer yard and dedicated County Road 216 entrance are designed to manage that higher-volume flow.

Infrastructure and traffic considerations

The 36-acre trailer yard and new truck entrance represent Georgia-Pacific's effort to manage the traffic impacts of a larger distribution footprint. County Road 216 provides access to the mill from State Road 20, which connects to U. S. 17 and the broader highway network serving Northeast Florida and points north and south.

Large warehouse expansions typically generate sustained increases in heavy truck traffic, particularly on the roads immediately surrounding the facility. The new inspection station and dedicated entrance are intended to streamline truck movements and keep loading operations away from the main mill access points.

For Putnam County, the project raises the broader question of how rural roads and intersections handle the cumulative weight of industrial growth. The county has limited capacity to widen or upgrade state roads without FDOT funding and prioritization, a common tension in Florida counties where manufacturing and logistics facilities expand faster than transportation infrastructure.

Georgia-Pacific's investment in on-site trailer staging and entrance infrastructure suggests the company is working to internalize traffic management rather than relying solely on public road capacity—a practice increasingly expected of large industrial users under county development review processes.

Advanced warehouse technology

The new warehouse will incorporate self-guided vehicles and other advanced technology designed to improve safety and efficiency at the mill's loading docks, according to the company. Self-guided vehicles—also known as automated guided vehicles or AGVs—are increasingly common in large distribution centers, where they move pallets and products without human drivers.

The technology can reduce forklift accidents, speed up loading cycles, and allow warehouses to operate with fewer workers per square foot, though it typically requires significant upfront investment in sensors, software, and facility infrastructure. Georgia-Pacific has not disclosed the specific systems it will deploy or how automation will affect the mix of jobs created by the expansion.

For Northeast Florida's workforce, the project represents both opportunity and evolution. Warehouse jobs created by the expansion may require technical skills to monitor and maintain automated systems, rather than traditional manual material-handling roles. The region's technical colleges and workforce-development programs increasingly offer training in logistics technology and industrial automation to meet that shift.

What happens next

Construction of the 400,000-square-foot warehouse is underway, with completion expected in June 2027. Georgia-Pacific has not disclosed a timeline for bringing the automated systems online or when the shift from third-party distribution centers to direct shipment from Palatka will be fully operational.

The company also has not specified whether the expansion required local zoning approvals, tax incentives, or other economic-development agreements with Putnam County or the state. Manufacturing expansions on existing industrial sites in Florida typically face fewer regulatory hurdles than greenfield projects, particularly when the new construction stays within the mill's existing property boundaries.

Residents and businesses in Putnam County can expect increased truck traffic on County Road 216 and feeder roads as the warehouse ramps up operations. The facility's direct-to-retailer shipping model will likely concentrate outbound traffic in waves, as large shipments are dispatched to meet retail restocking schedules.

The expansion is the latest signal of manufacturing resilience in Northeast Florida's inland counties, where existing industrial sites continue to attract reinvestment even as coastal growth accelerates. With nearly 450,000 tons of wood pulp now moving through JAXPORT annually to feed regional paper production, the Palatka mill remains a tangible link between the port economy and jobs far from the waterfront—a dynamic likely to intensify as supply-chain pressures push companies to consolidate operations closer to import gateways.