Lessons Learned As Berkman 2 Dream Goes Up In Smoke

[downtownbrown]

Obviously, Lori Boyer has known about this deal for quite a while.  So the gesture of condemning the building is purely theatrical if not tactical.

[thelakelander]

I don't see how this leverages anything.

[downtownbrown]

Imagine the city negotiating with an investor, and having difficulty agreeing to terms.  So the city says, "FU, I'll condemn the MF."  It's a futile and stupid gesture (Animal House) and therefore seems likely to me.

[fieldafm]

The property has been condemned during the periods it was under the ownership of various entities controlled by the Harbor Companies, Choate Construction (Harbor's GC), Ohde Construction and now Barrington Development.

This is nothing new.

The newest red tag is for various, mostly minor, issues. Fines of less than $100k aren't really going to move the needle much for a developer looking at a spend that would likely be at a minimum, North of $50 million.

[fieldafm]

I wonder what's the financial gap between incentivizing Berkman 2 into apartments vs demo? The hotel, mini amusement park was a bit over-the-top gimmick. For a fraction of the money we're prepared to give Khan for a Jax Landing-lite, it seems a long vacant waterfront site like Berkman could have been figured out years ago.

Didn't some developer want to do that 5 years ago but the city didn't kick in enough incentives? I could be misremembering...so many times the City screws up and ends up paying more later for worse results it's hard to keep it straight.

It is hard to keep straight, as the redevelopment of the property was held in limbo for about a decade while various lawsuits related to the 2007 parking garage collapse went through due process.

Choate, the original General Contractor for the original developer (David Berkman's Harbor Companies), finally took clear title to the property in 2014.  Choate had been seeking a new developer to take over and let them finish construction since at least 2008. Those efforts were complicated due to ownership issues, potential liability, etc from those lawsuits (and an OSHA investigation).

In anticipation of getting the site ready for a new market-based redevelopment, a rezoning was applied for in 2017 (?)... but no formal incentive package was approved at that time.

The only 'new' formal incentive package (apart from the original incentive package approved in 2006) was the $36 million boondoggle approved by the DIA (with less than 30 minutes discussion) from the crooks at Barrington Development (buddies of a close associate of a certain public official)... which was later withdrawn before City Council approval was given after some 'nefarious' journalists did the basic due diligence, that neither the Mayor's office, DIA nor City Council refused to do, that would reveal Barrington's spotty track records.

[downtownbrown]

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/blog/2012/10/chinese-investor-eyeing-opportunities.html

It's probably this guy....

[downtownbrown]

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2020/01/16/dia-ceo-berkman-ii-gets-interest-from-prospective.html

Funny how no one is even remotely interested in the "two buyers".  Group eye roll....

[Kerry]

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2020/01/16/dia-ceo-berkman-ii-gets-interest-from-prospective.html

Funny how no one is even remotely interested in the "two buyers".  Group eye roll....

Probably people with pending illegal parking lot cases.

[thelakelander]

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2020/01/16/dia-ceo-berkman-ii-gets-interest-from-prospective.html

Funny how no one is even remotely interested in the "two buyers".  Group eye roll....

Only in Jax do we get excited about "interested buyers". In reality, that means very little at this point. Heck, I hope there's more than two potential buyers. The higher the number of potential buyers, the better the chance that something materializes months or years down the road.

[downtownbrown]

damned right we get interested in interested buyers for the Berkman.  How interested? Where are we in the process?  Have they made an offer? What do they want from the city? What do they want to do with the carcass?  I don't think "Meh..." displays quite enough hope and curiosity.

[thelakelander]

It's "meh" because they clearly aren't that far along in the process. If there were, "interested buyers" would not be used to describe them. There would be a lot more detail provided. Until that time comes, it's no different from the average person being "interested" in buying a house. Until there is an offer made and accepted or framework of some deal in place, there's no real news to report.