Mayor Brown not a fan of SOE's downtown proposal

[Metro Jacksonville]

Mayor Brown not a fan of SOE's downtown proposal



Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown expresses his administration's view of the Duval County Supervisor of Elections' desire to construct a new consolidated downtown office building in LaVilla.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-sep-mayor-brown-not-a-fan-of-soes-downtown-proposal

[Noone]

KMart on Beach is opening up.

[Adam W]

I can appreciate the Mayor's position re potential costs to the taxpayers in the short term (apparently in the area of $5 million - maybe more).

But are there any other benefits to the taxpayers that may be gained from moving downtown (or adjacent to downtown)? I think there may be a savings from consolidating his operations under one roof. If the city owns the building, is there a possibility that office space in the building can be leased to other tenants? There is also the issue of leading the way on bringing development and jobs back into the downtown area. Also, is there any benefit to having the SoE offices near the courts?

It's not my money, but it seems like there are worse ways the city could spend $5 million. That's just my opinion.

[simms3]

How much space does Holland need?  How about a compromise and lease existing space in one of the buildings?  Assuming he needs 15,000 SF and would pay $20 gross, the landlord will put in some TI...you're at $300,000 in rent for the year.  This seems like a no brainer to me...why saddle the taxpayer with $5M to build an ugly new building when there is so much available space for cheap downtown?

Plus if the mayor is all about "return on taxpayers money" or saving money, it REALLY doesn't make sense to spend $5M up front and then still have to deal with carrying costs of a new building.  Just lease and be done with it.  We keep saddling Lavilla with these shit single tenant buildings, and pretty soon there will be no hope for the area becoming something more if every corner parcel is occupied by a walled off office building surrounded by surface parking.

[thelakelander]

From Jerry Holland:

I would welcome an existing building.  I need 65,000 square feet, with 2 loading docks 150 parking spaces, one story, on the city’s bus route.   I have looked but would welcome looking at any site you are aware of.  I did have the city’s real estate division also review all city own properties.  I will say as mentioned the site we are looking forward is city owned property.

One reason dedicated parking is necessary is because voting is a protected right that must have a higher level of accessibility.  Making voters pay parking or walk long distances from parking garages is seen as barriers for those with limited mobility or finances for parking.  We did look at the old library, but there was no public parking, and the accessibility to load out 32 trucks for the elections appeared create a traffic problem.  Also, because of the need to have the ware house on the first floor, have in other offices on the 2nd floor make it more difficult for voter access.  We  have looked at ware house only sites however the location must also house our call center, poll worker training rooms, canvassing, absentee ballot processing center, making these locations distant of our downtown office creates an inefficient operation and cost more to operate, also we have the need for the location to still be very accessible from all locations for poll worker training and post election canvassing.

Here's a link to the thread about Holland's design criteria:

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,15999.0.html

[Tacachale]

The letter sounds less like Brown's actively opposed to it and more like he's just washing his hands of it while hitting some talking points about costs. This isn't particularly unusual.

[Captain Zissou]

In a non-election year, how busy is the SOE office?  How often do they need to "load out 32 trucks"?  I'm guessing it's not a weekly thing. Also, has Jerry ever heard of an elevator?  I heard they work wonders for getting people up to higher floors. 
I really think the facility he wants is absolute overkill and it would only be used at its maximum potential for about 10% of the time.  Why not put his administrative offices and call center in the Greenleaf building or another class B property downtown and then partner with Mac Papers or another local company during election time to get his trucks loaded and ready?  This would be a great time for Alvin to show some innovative thinking to help save costs and meet the needs of all parties.   

[simms3]

Maybe the city can save an existing warehouse around Myrtle or in East Springfield?  Not sure any approach 65,000 SF, so save two?  Convenience, accessibility, no traffic issues, etc etc etc.  There has to be a solution that does not involve destroying another block in Lavilla, making the area that much more antagonistic to private sector mixed-use infill development.

[thelakelander]

I agree with the warehouse suggestion. Unless those parameters change, Downtown would be better off without it.

[Ocklawaha]

The SAX site is much more conducive to commercial, museum or other attractor development. 

If the mobility plan moratorium is allowed to sunset, many of these development opportunities will spring to life along fixed route transit and improved public roadways.

The city is broke, we've put off our best development opportunity for a year, and suddenly we need new office buildings for SOE and JTA. Simply amazing. Might I suggest a new location for these agencies? The 'Isle of Pines' off the south coast of Cuba would offer them great views of the Caribbean Sea. I'm sure Raul would welcome them.

[billy]

....former Main Library?

[If_I_Loved_you]

Why not send them down to the old courthouse redo several floors the parking space is there and loading docks could be added.

[Bridges]

Maybe the city can save an existing warehouse around Myrtle or in East Springfield?

Is anything in the old Duval Laundry on East 9th street at the end of Ionia? 

Edit: Guess it probably doesn't fit under the "city-owned" requirement.

[Tacachale]

I disagree that Downtown, or somewhere close to it, would be better off without the Supervisor of Elections office. At any rate Holland and company are to be commended for trying to consolidate their functions, get out of a decaying suburban site, and save taxpayer money. We need more of that kind of thinking.

[mtraininjax]

This would be a great time for Alvin to show some innovative thinking to help save costs and meet the needs of all parties.   

Agreed, especially since we still do not have an accurate budget for the City for the next fiscal year.