JEA weighs options to repair - or tear down aging downtown tower

[JaxUnicorn]

They would be better off with a new building, perhaps in Lavilla, where they have plenty of room to spread out and not build a monstrous structure. Federal Reserve chose to build a structure with new security instead of the old building where JFRD is now. The security there is pretty intense and it makes sense if they can build close to the new Transportation Hub.

It is sad to hear the building requires so much work and even sadder that the owners of the building ALLOWED it to get into this condition.  Folks need to take care of things!!

That being said, I really like the LaVilla idea!  The cost to relocate employees for the duration of demolition and construction has got to be astronomical!  Go out to LaVilla, build a historically accurate tower (remember DIA is trying to get downtown named as an historic district), then sell the current building, recouping some of the construction costs.  And it is a stepping stone to revitalizing the LaVilla area, which the City desecrated years ago.

[strider]

The fact is, it is "trashed"" because they allowed it to get that way. If they actually cared about the building or what other power companies thought, they would have not allowed the building to get "trashed". So a great Idea, let's built them a new building so they can trash that one too!

I suspect that it is far cheaper to "trash" the building you have, build a new one and abandon the old one than it is to properly keep the existing building maintained and updated. The issue is then, we end up with a second JEA building empty and unwanted. Nice.

Stupid.
Its not "trashed" by any means. The building has just not been maintained as well as it could be, by that I mean they only invest in critical issues to keep it safe and functional... Now its nearing its end of live and a major overhaul MAY need to occur, but its definitely not trashed....If you were the CEO of JEA im sure you wouldnt mind telling rate payers to expect an increase becasue they want new carpet in the lobby  and tile in the restrooms to "impress" Duke and FPL reps. 

Actually others called it trashed or at least called it a dump.  If the building is getting to be an issue, then they certainly did not do the required maintenance and updates it required to be the building they are claiming they want.  It certainly appears that they only did the minimum needed to keep it functioning rather than updating it as it needed it make it more useful for today.  And it would have been bad to tell the taxpayers they needed to update that building through the years as that is so much worse than telling us today they are going to be spending something more than 40 million to build a shiny new one?

[videojon]

With all due respect, I would hope that the leadership at JEA doesn't adopt the mindset of "it hasn't happened recently so no need to worry about it." Why would the only major utility company in Jacksonville ignore what could happen to their building if Jacksonville got directly hit by a hurricane? Though it hasn't happened in decades, it still is possible. Unless people were around for Dora, I think many don't realize the  flooding that a major hurricane would inflict on downtown.

I gotta question the premise here that a storm surge could cause the building to have a major outage. The building is in the middle of Downtown, correct?
How many floods has the middle of Downtown seen since 1962? My guess is zero. A two foot storm surge from where? The river? The sky?
If you want to tear it down then say you want to tear it down because thats what you prefer rather than hide behind a ridiculous 'what-if' scenario that is extremely unlikely to happen in the first place.
All new government buildings are extremely over engineered and over built in my opinion. This false premise is how that mentality is created.
Just my two cents.

[marksjax]

I was just pointing out that one of the main reasons for the 'need' for the new building is a 'reach' in my opinion.

The ocean is 15 miles away. If there is a storm surge that affects the middle of downtown then I' m afraid that the JEA office's condition will be the least of our worries, lol.

As this was built right after Hurricane Dora I would think that was taken into account.

Besides that there are many buildings in big cities across America built 50-60 years ago that seem to be fine.

They are looking for a reason to start the plan in motion and I am crying foul on that reasoning as justification to build new.

[Charles Hunter]

I was just pointing out that one of the main reasons for the 'need' for the new building is a 'reach' in my opinion.

The ocean is 15 miles away. If there is a storm surge that affects the middle of downtown then I' m afraid that the JEA office's condition will be the least of our worries, lol.

As this was built right after Hurricane Dora I would think that was taken into account.

Besides that there are many buildings in big cities across America built 50-60 years ago that seem to be fine.

They are looking for a reason to start the plan in motion and I am crying foul on that reasoning as justification to build new.

Have you seen the pictures of downtown during Dora?  But the JEA building does seem to be on a pretty high part of downtown.  I hope they build new before leaving the existing building.  Say ... don't they own a bunch of land on the Southbank?

[edjax]

I was just pointing out that one of the main reasons for the 'need' for the new building is a 'reach' in my opinion.

The ocean is 15 miles away. If there is a storm surge that affects the middle of downtown then I' m afraid that the JEA office's condition will be the least of our worries, lol.

As this was built right after Hurricane Dora I would think that was taken into account.

Besides that there are many buildings in big cities across America built 50-60 years ago that seem to be fine.

They are looking for a reason to start the plan in motion and I am crying foul on that reasoning as justification to build new.

Have you seen the pictures of downtown during Dora?  But the JEA building does seem to be on a pretty high part of downtown.  I hope they build new before leaving the existing building.  Say ... don't they own a bunch of land on the Southbank?

Where do they own on Southbank?

[Charles Hunter]

That large parcel where the generating station used to be?

Or have they already sold it?  I thought they were still entertaining development proposals (and I will be happy to be wrong).

[thelakelander]

They just sold it to Peter Rummell.

[Charles Hunter]

"Never mind."

But, as someone else said, there's plenty of vacant parcels downtown that could use a new office building.

With ground-level retail (not just JEA payment windows).

[marksjax]

I was just pointing out that one of the main reasons for the 'need' for the new building is a 'reach' in my opinion.

The ocean is 15 miles away. If there is a storm surge that affects the middle of downtown then I' m afraid that the JEA office's condition will be the least of our worries, lol.

As this was built right after Hurricane Dora I would think that was taken into account.

Besides that there are many buildings in big cities across America built 50-60 years ago that seem to be fine.

They are looking for a reason to start the plan in motion and I am crying foul on that reasoning as justification to build new.

Have you seen the pictures of downtown during Dora?  But the JEA building does seem to be on a pretty high part of downtown.  I hope they build new before leaving the existing building.  Say ... don't they own a bunch of land on the Southbank?

I did a quick search and found an old picture of the St John's overflowing onto what might have been the riverfront parking lot of the old Sears store.

That surprised me for sure.

So, I must admit that there is the potential for significant flooding in Downtown if we get another Category 4/5 hurricane.

But does their argument not raise the question of a viable alternative location on which to build the new building? I would think any building in this area would be subject to the same potential for damage. Perhaps they could make some changes to the existing generator and other sensitive items to get them up off the ground. Might not be cheap but probably much cheaper than a brand new building.

My cynical side would say that it's pointless to question their plans. Can preliminary plans for the "New JEA Building" be far behind?
(done by Haskell, natch). Gotta keep the narrative going to justify the rate increase we will all share.

Thats how we roll in Jax.

[Charles Hunter]

Dora was only a Cat. 2.
But, where-ever they build, even if restoring the Universal Marion Building, is their ultimate choice (which I doubt), they should take steps to put emergency generators where they aren't subject to rising water and other hazards.

[marksjax]

Then that was a bad-azz Cat Two!
The beaches were for sure heavily damaged.

[acme54321]

They just sold it to Peter Rummell.

Not a done deal yet: http://apps.coj.net/PAO_PropertySearch/Basic/Detail.aspx?RE=0800960010

[Elwood]

The property is under contract. However, per JEA.com, "The contract generally allows for a 365 day due diligence period. While under contract, JEA will not consider other offers for purchase or contemplate additional public offerings on the site."

[urbanlibertarian]

I don't think flooding is the only issue.  They need to keep their headquarters powered so they can manage the restoration of power to their customers.  Maybe their headquarters (or at least their emergency management) should be at a generation plant.