Preservation: What gets razed? What gets saved?

[Ocklawaha]

Code enforcement will not allow salvaging for safety reasons although we did get the chain link gate at the front of the building with their permission. 

Just one more rule that needs to be sent into the sunset. It should be easy enough to have a short time period for salvage with the owners permission prior to demolition, otherwise "guerillia salvage" could become a battle cry.

The tag on the Jacobs Building is/was a dayglow orange/red, but it might have been changed. I inquired about the place before moving to WGV and the owner, who was then in Atlanta, wanted something close to a $Mil for the place! I told him I thought he had bumped his head somewhere along the line...  I was told the notices were largely because the windows are vacant and open to the elements, another time I was told the basement was flooded. I'd love to get in there with a camera to record the truth about that place because it DOES look like it is as solid as rock.

OCKLAWAHA

[strider]

2nd Street - Jacobs Building:  A few years ago, there was actually a contractor hired and work begun.  I believe that is when it was gutted.  It was also being done as condos, if I remember correctly.  I also suspect some of the work was being done prior to permitting.

If they were being required to put in special windows and an elevator, then the people advising the owner did not have the right experience  as while that may be the case with new construction, a historic building has ways to avoid some of that with trade offs. We worked up the required paperwork for a three story in Riverside and the only reason there was an elevator, for instance, was choice and the only place there were special windows were in the fire code required back staircase.

[fieldafm]

I was peaking around yesterday and it appears there isn't any evidence of work being done for awhile.  Do you know if the current owners have given up on the building for the time being, or permanently?

[ChriswUfGator]

I went all through that building from basement to top before the current owner bought it, back when it was for sale (not on MLS) for around $280k. I think that was 2001 maybe? I passed on it because I was in the rental business, and when you factored in the cost estimates and with it being a higher-interest commercial loan, the cost per unit came out way too high to make any money. I didn't see how it would even cover its mortgage. There was an older african american gentleman who was the caretaker for the owner, which is how I made contact just poking around there one day. I was told it had been a nursing home for a time, which had closed down.

Back then, you could pick up 2/1 and 3/1 quadplexes all day for $30k-$40k in Springfield, and the Jacobs building was only (IIRC) 8'ish small units that I was going to have to combine in order to get some kind of marketable square footage per unit. It would have left me paying like $100k+ a unit in S'field, which was ridiculous back then. Actually, forget back then, it's still ridiculous now. I had just finished rehabbing 1719 Perry Street, like 2 blocks away, and after a well-done renovation I still only had $25k/unit in that, which had 4 X 3/1's rented at $850/mo each. It just made no kind of economic sense. I really wanted it, but there was just nothing you could do with it. I thought about condos, but then you were back to the same problem, at $280k you couldn't make any money on it. And they wouldn't budge on the price at all.

So I'm pretty sure that's the price the present owner got it for. So if he wants $800k now, then what we have here is another one of these out-of-town investors who buys a building, announces some nice-sounding plans for it, then does nothing but sit back and expect to quadruple his money. Well, good luck with that. Those guys were the bane of my existence over there, they'd outbid me on the foreclosures, outbid me on outright purchases, all of it. I always wondered how the hell they were making any money paying those prices, when the rents wouldn't cover the mortgage, and these were apartment buildings they at least have to do that much, that's what they're for! I guess time answered that question for us; They weren't making money except on paper.

But regarding the building itself, it was solid as a rock. Needed roof work, windows, doors, plaster, paint, and the usual cosmetic stuff, but it was amazingly intact when I saw it, right down to the original radiators and doorknobs, unpainted dark mahogany trim, etc.  The doorknobs were cast bronze, and the larger exterior ones had "J"s cast into them for the Jacobs guy who owned it when it was built. The original boiler and machinery was still in the basement, and looked like it would be functional with some maintenance.

If this idiot investor actually gutted it (I wouldn't know I haven't been back in since) then we have lost probably the single most historically intact structure in the neighborhood. What a travesty.

What did SPAR say when he gutted the building?

[Ocklawaha]

The Jacobs Building would make a stunning home if someone was so inclined. I thought an open to the top (3 floors) entry hall with overhanging interior balconies would have been the coup d'etat.

OCKLAWAHA

[fieldafm]

I went all through that building from basement to top before the current owner bought it, back when it was for sale (not on MLS) for around $280k. I think that was 2001 maybe? I passed on it because I was in the rental business, and when you factored in the cost estimates and with it being a higher-interest commercial loan, the cost per unit came out way too high to make any money. I didn't see how it would even cover its mortgage. There was an older african american gentleman who was the caretaker for the owner, which is how I made contact just poking around there one day. I was told it had been a nursing home for a time, which had closed down.

Back then, you could pick up 2/1 and 3/1 quadplexes all day for $30k-$40k in Springfield, and the Jacobs building was only (IIRC) 8'ish small units that I was going to have to combine in order to get some kind of marketable square footage per unit. It would have left me paying like $100k+ a unit in S'field, which was ridiculous back then. Actually, forget back then, it's still ridiculous now. I had just finished rehabbing 1719 Perry Street, like 2 blocks away, and after a well-done renovation I still only had $25k/unit in that, which had 4 X 3/1's rented at $850/mo each. It just made no kind of economic sense. I really wanted it, but there was just nothing you could do with it. I thought about condos, but then you were back to the same problem, at $280k you couldn't make any money on it. And they wouldn't budge on the price at all.

So I'm pretty sure that's the price the present owner got it for. So if he wants $800k now, then what we have here is another one of these out-of-town investors who buys a building, announces some nice-sounding plans for it, then does nothing but sit back and expect to quadruple his money. Well, good luck with that. Those guys were the bane of my existence over there, they'd outbid me on the foreclosures, outbid me on outright purchases, all of it. I always wondered how the hell they were making any money paying those prices, when the rents wouldn't cover the mortgage, and these were apartment buildings they at least have to do that much, that's what they're for! I guess time answered that question for us; They weren't making money except on paper.

But regarding the building itself, it was solid as a rock. Needed roof work, windows, doors, plaster, paint, and the usual cosmetic stuff, but it was amazingly intact when I saw it, right down to the original radiators and doorknobs, unpainted dark mahogany trim, etc.  The doorknobs were cast bronze, and the larger exterior ones had "J"s cast into them for the Jacobs guy who owned it when it was built. The original boiler and machinery was still in the basement, and looked like it would be functional with some maintenance.

If this idiot investor actually gutted it (I wouldn't know I haven't been back in since) then we have lost probably the single most historically intact structure in the neighborhood. What a travesty.

What did SPAR say when he gutted the building?

Mortgages for those types of buildings are certainly not as favorable in some aspects, but MUCH more favorable in other aspects than they were in 2001.
I'm just more tire kicking right now and did some poking around the site yesterday and from the eye test, the building passes quite a few of my informal checklists.  Of course, what the owners plans are for the property or how much they are willing to sell for could make or break that type of arrangement pretty quick, just like you said.  In its present condition, the interior gutting isn't really a deal breaker from a rehab cost perspective.... or at least, from what I can see.

800k sounds like the classic 'get the hell off my lawn' type of blow off price Ock, LOL.  Good God, you can get a fully rented and profitable quadplex in Riverside for less than that.  Hell, you could pretty much buy some 4 unit condo buildings in RS for that much.

[mtraininjax]

Riverside Fire Station is still standing. If it can stand, so can anything I suppose at this juncture. JEA has been pulling power from many houses that are empty or when citizens try and steal power. We are going to hear lots of howling when it gets colder!

[Ethylene]

Notice of Bids 10-15567


Bid Notice
____________________________________
INVITATION TO BID
Sealed bids will be received by the City of Jacksonville, Division of Procurement, 1st floor, Ed Ball Building, 214 North Hogan Street, Suite 105, until the time and dates recorded below and immediately thereafter publicly opened and recorded in Conference Room 110, 1st Floor, Ed Ball Building, 214 North Hogan Street, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
BUYER:
Dan Pearson (904) 255-8815
OPEN:
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
At 2:00 p.m.
CF-0024-11 Demolition & Site Clearance Of 23 Properties, (No Charge)
Prequalification:
Demolition Less Than 3 Stories.
PROJECT MANAGER:
Wayne Hamilton 904-255-7015
CF-0028-11 Demolition & Site Clearance Of 15 Properties, (No Charge)
Prequalification:
Demolition Less Than 3 Stories.
PROJECT MANAGER:
Wayne Hamilton 904-255-7015
john PEYTON, MAYOR
CITY OF
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
By: Michael Clapsaddle
Chief Of Procurement
Dec. 1 (10-15567)


http://jaxdailyrecord.com/publicnotice.php?Category=Notice%20of%20Bids&mode=daily

38 total properties of 3 stories or less hmmm   

Knock em down knock em all down! Good grief! These types of bids are all too commonplace in good ole JAX!

[iloveionia]

Long Beach, population approximately 500,000, southern most city in Los Angeles County.
This is how they "do" demolitions:

http://lang.presstelegram.com/photos/photos.asp?a=1128332#id=1128332&num=0

Gheesh.