JACKSONVILLE, Fla – One day after the JEA board decided to move its headquarters into a new downtown office tower to be built a few blocks from its current, aging building, News4Jax is learning more about the selection process and details about the new facility.
The board selected Ryan Company's $72.2 million proposal from three finalists and it is now working with the city of Jacksonville to buy the vacant land on West Adams Street, between Julia and Pearl streets -- one block from the Duval County Courthouse.
We could see construction by the end of the year and the JEA could be moving into the building in about three years.
The JEA won't own the new building but will pay Ryan about $9 million each year for rent. Board chairman Alan Howard said studies show it will save money in the long run for someone else to be responsible for the building.
IMAGES: Renderings of new JEA tower
Howard said employees are looking forward to moving from a building built in 1968 into a brand-new office tower.
"That will be an exciting but challenging task, to relocate from a facility that we've been in for decades to a brand-new facility that we also hope to enjoy for decades to come," Howard said.
There will also be challenges for the immediate neighbors of the new building.
Tino Francis, who owns the Top Notch Barbershop right across West Adams from the new site, knows there will be some challenges while the building is going up, but he’s ready.
"I might be interrupted while they’re building but, in the long run, I think it might be good for the community and give us more people to cater to," Francis said.
According to the tally sheet from the board's evaluations of the three finalists vying to build the JEA's new headquarters, the Adams Street proposal edged out one at the TIAA Bank Field Lot J proposal from Shad Khan's development group by one vote. The third proposal to build a tower on Kings Avenue on the Southbank was nine votes behind
The board's selection of the downtown site came as a surprise to observers who thought it was a done deal that the TIAA Bank Field Lot J proposal from Shad Khan's development group would be selected.
Howard told News4Jax that nobody from City Hall tried to lobby for any of the locations.
"I never received any call or direction from the mayor or any of the mayor staff or any other persons in the administration on which way we should direct our vote," Howard said Thursday. "I think there’s a misperception in the community and perhaps the media that the JEA board is somehow a puppet of this administration and that is just not true."
It was thought that building the JEA headquarters in the Sports Complex would spur development near the stadium. Howard wanted to put that to rest.
"I don’t believe it’s JEA’s job to be an engine for economic development, either for Lot J or the Southbank, or even for the downtown core," Howard said.
Whether or not it brings jobs downtown, Francis welcomes having JEA as a new neighbor.
"It was a parking lot there. It was an empty spot and it will be good to have something there (other) than just gravel," Francis said.