QuoteCity Council members Tuesday approved the sale of a LaVilla building to a developer who plans to turn the space into a grocery store, restaurant, apartments and a rooftop apiary for beekeeping.
Through 905 Corp., Paul Sifton will purchase 905 W. Forsyth St. from the city for $60,000.
The Downtown Investment Authority agreed to sell Sifton the quarter-acre property in May.
Lee & Cates Glass Inc. formerly occupied the building, but following a fire in 2003, moved to nearby Houston Street.
Full article: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/photo-gallery/council-oks-sale-of-lavilla-building-developer-plans-grocery-apartments
Boom!
This is great. Retail follows roof-something or other. Glad to see some repurposing coming to this corridor. :)
Yes, this is one of the reasons no one should be worried about the affordable housing developments sprouting up without retail. The more, the merrier. They'll create opportunity for adjacent market rate retail and mixed-use projects.
Bees? Downtown? RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good news. I would be interested to know why the city seemed to be reasonable on the value of this building but wasn't on the nearby property that was RFPed awhile back.
Quote from: vicupstate on December 12, 2018, 05:08:57 PM
Good news. I would be interested to know why the city seemed to be reasonable on the value of this building but wasn't on the nearby property that was RFPed awhile back.
Paul Sifton has been trying to buy that building for years. I think he actually submitted an unsolicited bid, which triggered the RFP. The property at 324 N. Broad St which you are referring to didn't have someone knocking on the door for years trying to buy it. In fact, it took the DIA about two years to actually put together the Broad St RFP. I completely agree with you, DIA should have sold that property for whatever and toasted with champagne immediately afterwards... just trying to put some context into the possible reasons for why. Frankly, I think the board rejecting all three of the offers they got was almost on par with the short-sightedness of rubber stamping a ridiculous incentive package for some hotel/amusement park on the Berkman II site with almost zero discussion.
For those reading that are a little lost, the City owns a two story building across from the Courhouse. They bought the building in the early 90's for $34k.... have let it sit vacant and rot ever since. The roof and the second floor have both caved in. An RFP was issued on the property earlier this year. Three bids came in, with the best being from a local architect who bid a shade under $10k... and indicated he would be spending up to about $700k to get it back up to be fit for occupancy. The DIA board rejected those offers... somehow thinking they should be making a profit over and above the original acquisition cost.
Said architect got pissed and indicated that even if the City put it up for sale again... he wouldn't bother even bidding on it. Can't say that I blame him. For that kind of investment, he'd be much better off spending his money elsewhere. And so the building still barely stands... rotting away. Meanwhile, the building next door (which isnt falling over and has been continuosly occupied for decades) sold over the summer. That block is one of the four of LAST blocks in LaVilla with contiguous storefronts... and in a year or two that Broad Street property may wind up falling over on itself, subtracting that block from the equation.
~~ Thank for the insight and excellent summary. The COJ is a terrible landlord of many, many properties across the city. Springfield alone is littered with them.
It takes money and effort to just submit a bid, I can see why he was miffed.
^That's why I'd be super miffed with the recent convention center RFP. Companies that responded just lit thousands of dollars on fire. Btw, here's the block with 324 Broad Street. Guess which building is publicly owned!
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Downtown-Slumlord/i-dHHH4th/0/7511af72/L/DSCF4669-L.jpg)
Quote from: thelakelander on December 12, 2018, 07:37:49 PM
^That's why I'd be super miffed with the recent convention center RFP. Companies that responded just lit thousands of dollars on fire.
It is amazing to me how short sighted the DIA and the City has become. No one is going to seriously reply to a DIA RFP any more as those who do and want to actual build a project get hosed. Correct me if I am wrong, but the only ones who have officially won a DIA RFP and gone to negotiations are Iguana? Guess you have to own an NFL team to be taken seriously in this town.
Politically connected firms will continue to respond. Going after RFPs starts months and even years before a RFP comes out. You might not get a lot of diversity since others won't commit to wasting the resources if they figure there's a snowball's chance in hell of them being shortlisted or winning. However, depending on one's perspective, that might not be a problem.
Why do we still have RFPs for buildings worth less than $200,000? Just put them up for auction. If city council had any sense they would do that. Oh, wait, I said if city council had any sense! ;D
I don't know what the cut off limit should be but I suspect the true value of many of the city's blighted properties is way less than the monetary value of the time needed to create the RFPs and review the responses.