Abandoned Jacksonville: Old JEA Tower Building
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1625744187_4kbcxPB-M.jpg)
Vacant for 15 years, 233 West Duval Street is downtown Jacksonville's largest forgotten structure. Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a look inside of a building that has become a silent memorial of a vibrant downtown era gone bye.
Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-mar-abandoned-jacksonville-old-jea-tower-building
Very nice. Did the JEA sell the surplus house across from Exchange Club JEA Island? The number one FIND project for 2014. we are so LOST.
There is $5,000,000 plus in the Historic Preservation Trust Fund.
At the last DIA special meeting. Someone who was there from day one with his hand out and told the Mayor if not given the money would never buy another building Downtown again now after getting the money announced that he and others may be looking at another 3 or 4 deals. Could this be converted to housing?
I assume this building is on the market? If so what is the price?
might make some cool loft apartments.
As this is an abandoned building owned by the city, does it get the rolling fine treatment like many others do? Is it at risk of being torn down? After all, just from the pictures, it meets the criteria MCC uses to condemned building after building and impose those fines.
It is sad that we still promote the construction of new office buildings on newly developed land while we have so much empty downtown. Just think of how many office buildings have been built on the Southside in just the last ten years while this building sat empty. Sometimes I wonder if we were not consolidated would Downtown be better off? At least then Downtown could compete for the companies to fill office space, as it is our city council is willing to sell everything else out to enable new construction in the suburbs.
Quote from: strider on March 04, 2014, 08:25:32 AM
As this is an abandoned building owned by the city, does it get the rolling fine treatment like many others do? Is it at risk of being torn down? After all, just from the pictures, it meets the criteria MCC uses to condemned building after building and impose those fines.
It is sad that we still promote the construction of new office buildings on newly developed land while we have so much empty downtown. Just think of how many office buildings have been built on the Southside in just the last ten years while this building sat empty. Sometimes I wonder if we were not consolidated would Downtown be better off? At least then Downtown could compete for the companies to fill office space, as it is our city council is willing to sell everything else out to enable new construction in the suburbs.
There are plenty of Consolidated cities that do not have these issues. Nashville, Indianapolis, Norfolk for example all have strong Downtowns. Dallas, Houston, Austin, OKC and Charlotte, while not consolidated per se, all stretch out over many hundreds of square miles with lots of suburban office districts, yet their Downtowns are thriving as well.
The difference is those cities are not stuck in a 1980's mindset.
15 years??? wow
Building looked in pretty good shape till the last few photos. Plaster does not like moisture and flakes paint and outter layers. Tile, assumed VAT, doesn't like water either(curling popped tile). Besides all that it looks dry. The windows look to be intact. I see that they took all the ceiling tile out. Good move ACT doesn't like moisture either.
I suspect the building would have some difficulty meeting current energy codes.
Agreed with Vicupstate, but Norfolk isn't consolidated. It's an independent city, but only 60 sq mi or so also. Its neighbors, Suffolk and Virginia Beach, are sprawling consolidated monsters that cover 300-400 sq mi or thereabouts.
Quote from: vicupstate on March 04, 2014, 05:41:05 AM
I assume this building is on the market? If so what is the price?
Think its pretty much make an offer. I seem to remember when I first moved here (early 2000s) it was in the $3-5M range and there was some actual competition between investors to buy it. There was a group from SoFL that wanted to make it apartments, two or three that wanted to have new office space. Don't know what happened but obviously those talks fizzled long before the market tanked.
I also seem to remember this property has made the commercial real estate rounds. Its been marketed by Colliers, Addison, Dickinson-Klotz and now Petra:
http://www.petramanagement.com/index.php/listings/jea-building/ (http://www.petramanagement.com/index.php/listings/jea-building/)
This building is truly one of Jacksonville's architectural treasures. It's not only a beautiful building (when maintained) but it was also built extremely well. It's such a shame to see it sit unused for all of these years.
Dasher Hurst Architects designed a proposed renovation / addition to this building last spring. One of the main goals was to increase the rentable floor area of each floor which is currently pretty small (5,300 s.f. per floor on upper floors) and also take advantage of views toward Hemming Plaza. Our client is very interested in pursuing this development but has not yet proceeded primarily because he had no luck getting a response to his proposal from Chris Hionides (the current owner). It's too bad, it's an amazing building. If it got renovated, we'd even talked about moving our office into it.
http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/ (http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/)
Quote from: TomHurst on March 04, 2014, 09:36:53 AM
http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/ (http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/)
Those are some real nice looking drawings, it would be real nice to see that come to life.
I wonder why Chris isn't responding, you think he'd want to unload the property - in this market he can't be drowning in offers.
Great looking design Tom. That looks very "un-Jacksonville-like." I love the balance of architecture. The 1950s tower and the proposed modern addition blend well together.
This is absolutely my favorite building in downtown Jax. I hope that it is brought back to life. It was on the market about 12 years ago for $3million. Unfortunately the building floor plates are designed very inefficiently, which makes the rentable square footage less attractive to investors. I like the ideas by DasherHurst to expand it's rentable numbers.
It's one of my favorite buildings in Jax, too! It reminds me of a mini-homage to the PSFS Building in Philly.
I really thought that all the activity around Hemming Plaza in the last decade would have reached it, but at least it's still standing. I hope not only that it is occupied again, but most of its mid-century character can be restored, too. It's an endangered architectural era, for which renovation is a far more popular concept than preservation. And of course there's the demolition threat. A lot of people still haven't wrapped their heads around preserving buildings like these, but this building's been generally eligible for the National Register for almost 10 years now.
Scrub, was it you who used to run that early 2000s website with all the Jacksonville skyscraper photos?
Quote from: Wacca Pilatka on March 04, 2014, 03:17:06 PM
Scrub, was it you who used to run that early 2000s website with all the Jacksonville skyscraper photos?
It was, yes. I was a wee teenager at the time! Toward the end, I was expanding it to include architecture throughout the city, but I moved onto other things before getting very far with that version.
I guess I misunderstood that it was a city owned property. At the moment though, it looks like it is in bankruptcy so no one can buy it, tear it down nor get it for back taxes (which are like 342K). OK, at least can't buy it easily. I think most of the properties owned by Hionides's various holding companies are in bankruptcy.
Quote from: Scrub Palmetto on March 04, 2014, 03:30:32 PM
Quote from: Wacca Pilatka on March 04, 2014, 03:17:06 PM
Scrub, was it you who used to run that early 2000s website with all the Jacksonville skyscraper photos?
It was, yes. I was a wee teenager at the time! Toward the end, I was expanding it to include architecture throughout the city, but I moved onto other things before getting very far with that version.
I enjoyed that page very much. So many great pictures.
Quote from: Wacca Pilatka on March 04, 2014, 08:32:24 PM
I enjoyed that page very much. So many great pictures.
Thanks! I'm glad it's remembered fondly. Wow, it's hard to believe it was 15 years ago when I started that site, and 12 years ago when I took it down.
Segueing back to the topic, I pulled up this mildly interesting info from my old page on this building (233 W Duval):
"The floors labeled '1-15' are office floors while floors '16-18' are service floors. At the top of the elevator core is a square, glass room called the 'Skyroom'. It is labeled the '19th' floor. However, since there is no 13th floor, the building really only has 18 floors."
I'm not sure who sent me that, but it's probably in an old e-mail somewhere.
anyone have any update on this?
I should soon. I was supposed to talk with the developer yesterday, but had a timing conflict.
Glad this popped up in the feed again. I absolutely adore this building and it is in a fantastic area of Downtown that could really use a jolt. With the new Courthouse facilities and Hemming Park only blocks away, this structure along with the Ambassador (and the already occupied Metropolitan Lofts) could make one of the most urban corners of downtown the most vibrant section, hopefully encouraging infill between it and the river-focused residential areas.
Quote from: coredumped on March 04, 2014, 09:56:02 AM
Quote from: TomHurst on March 04, 2014, 09:36:53 AM
http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/ (http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/)
Those are some real nice looking drawings, it would be real nice to see that come to life.
I wonder why Chris isn't responding, you think he'd want to unload the property - in this market he can't be drowning in offers.
Also, this design is AMAZING. Wow. Really wish someone with cash would buy it and move forward with this.
Quote from: BoldCityRealist on March 31, 2015, 03:46:25 PM
Quote from: coredumped on March 04, 2014, 09:56:02 AM
Quote from: TomHurst on March 04, 2014, 09:36:53 AM
http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/ (http://www.dasherhurst.com/portfolio/independent-life-building/)
Those are some real nice looking drawings, it would be real nice to see that come to life.
I wonder why Chris isn't responding, you think he'd want to unload the property - in this market he can't be drowning in offers.
Also, this design is AMAZING. Wow. Really wish someone with cash would buy it and move forward with this.
talk about the ultimate crowdfunding opportunity!
Actually...how feasible would that be, to try and crowdfund something like this? I have zero knowledge of how that works.
Quote from: vicupstate on March 04, 2014, 08:39:24 AM
Quote from: strider on March 04, 2014, 08:25:32 AM
As this is an abandoned building owned by the city, does it get the rolling fine treatment like many others do? Is it at risk of being torn down? After all, just from the pictures, it meets the criteria MCC uses to condemned building after building and impose those fines.
It is sad that we still promote the construction of new office buildings on newly developed land while we have so much empty downtown. Just think of how many office buildings have been built on the Southside in just the last ten years while this building sat empty. Sometimes I wonder if we were not consolidated would Downtown be better off? At least then Downtown could compete for the companies to fill office space, as it is our city council is willing to sell everything else out to enable new construction in the suburbs.
There are plenty of Consolidated cities that do not have these issues. Nashville, Indianapolis, Norfolk for example all have strong Downtowns. Dallas, Houston, Austin, OKC and Charlotte, while not consolidated per se, all stretch out over many hundreds of square miles with lots of suburban office districts, yet their Downtowns are thriving as well.
The difference is those cities are not stuck in a 1980's mindset.
Try 1960s or even 1950s mindset.
Quote from: BoldCityRealist on March 31, 2015, 03:44:53 PM
Glad this popped up in the feed again. I absolutely adore this building and it is in a fantastic area of Downtown that could really use a jolt. With the new Courthouse facilities and Hemming Park only blocks away, this structure along with the Ambassador (and the already occupied Metropolitan Lofts) could make one of the most urban corners of downtown the most vibrant section, hopefully encouraging infill between it and the river-focused residential areas.
And if that "jolt" happened in that area of downtown, it could extend and affect growth and revitalization in Lavilla, which is also much needed.
Beautiful design! I stare out of my windows at Metro everyday wishing I had neighbors in an activated Old JEA Tower as well as the Ambassador Hotel. It would really make the Lofts residents feel that much more connected to the core. This gap definitely needs to be filled as the MASSIVE courthouse backside and the MASSIVE at&t brick and concrete block of a building on church st are really killjoys I must say.