Khan's Jacksonville Shipyards Plans Revealed

[mtraininjax]

New info on Shipyards remediation: The $17.5 million in Curry's CIP proposal for 2016-2017 allocated to the Shipyards is for remediation of the submerged portion of the site. The study earlier this year determined that this is how much it will cost just to clean up the submerged area. The cost of remediation for the upland portion of the site is still TBD. Right now, the city is holding $13 million in the coffers specifically for that upland area.

With or without the self-promotion of Shad Khan and 100 years of football, that acreage on the river will have something done with it during this administration.

[thelakelander]

Hmm....

Shipyards "not suitable for unrestricted usage"

By Stephanie Brown

Jacksonville, FL — Negotiations in to the future of the Jacksonville Shipyards are still ongoing, but we're now getting a closer look at the environmental obstacles that stand in the way.

Mechling Engineering & Consulting, Inc. has spent several months performing a comprehensive site assessment of the roughly 45 acres of land on Jacksonville's Downtown Northbank. The area was used for industrial and commercial activities dating back to the mid-1800s, and those activities have led varying levels and types of contamination. WOKV obtained a preliminary report, which showed widespread contamination. The full report now paints the fuller picture.

In terms of soil, the two "most commonly identified at elevated concentrations across the site" are lead and arsenic. Arsenic was found in concentrations which exceeded both residential standards on about half the locations sampled, and many of the locations also exceeded commercial standards. Lead topped not only residential and commercial standards, but in some cases exceeded other toxicity regulations as well. A few other contaminants were noted as well. The report further found that material from the "Great Fire of 1901" in Downtown- including burnt wood- was likely used as fill material along the water front.

Full article: http://www.wokv.com/news/news/local/shipyards-not-suitable-unrestricted-usage/nnQMz/

[jaxjaguar]

Is this good news or bad news? All three of these issues can be resolved, right?

[acme54321]

Is this good news or bad news? All three of these issues can be resolved, right?

All it takes is money, more money.

[thelakelander]

Do you have to clean it up if you give it back to heavy industry? Could BAE, North Florida Shipyards or another maritime-related entity use the extra space?

[thelakelander]

As opposed to residential and commercial, what about industrial? Would the clean-up process be different and less costly?

[Tacachale]

As opposed to residential and commercial, what about industrial? Would the clean-up process be different and less costly?

If they returned it to industrial the contamination should matter a lot less. It would be an expensive project for that use, though.

[thelakelander]

The Project New Ground situation is a different animal altogether. Regarding the shipyards, I know most prefer a mixed-use development on the site instead of industry, but I find it hard to believe that you can't overcome contamination issues, liabilities and zoning to allow for industrial use.  In the event, the property were used for industry, I'm wondering what type or level of cleanup would be needed and how much would the cost difference be between them?

Where I'm going with this is:

1. Is there a way to reduce the amount of liability and needed investment on the city's part to bring the property back online?

2. If certain uses could be found that reduce the amount of money the city needs to invest in it, while returning it to the tax rolls, perhaps those uses should be further explored?

3. Taking the cash required to make this shipyards dream happen and redistributing it to a mix of projects that will have a greater positive impact on downtown.

Also, there's nothing new under the sun. Most riverfront cities in this country have had a shipyard..or two...or three, close since WWII ended. What type of strategies have they used to put these properties back into use?

[KenFSU]

^Wouldn't this allow some commercial use as well?

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but from a contamination standpoint, don't industrial and commercial uses have the same threshold? With more stringent limits for residential?

[thelakelander]

^I'm not sure. I'm hoping someone with a good understanding of dealing with brownfield redevelopment chimes in. I'm interested to see what types of options may be available to the city.

[MEGATRON]

^Wouldn't this allow some commercial use as well?

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but from a contamination standpoint, don't industrial and commercial uses have the same threshold? With more stringent limits for residential?

this is generally correct. But, for the most part, proper site planning can make a mixed use project completely doable.

[KenFSU]

^Wouldn't this allow some commercial use as well?

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but from a contamination standpoint, don't industrial and commercial uses have the same threshold? With more stringent limits for residential?

this is generally correct. But, for the most part, proper site planning can make a mixed use project completely doable.

So, assuming mixed use, it could conceivably save the city a good deal of money to have a site plan finalized prior to remediation? In that, certain areas could be remediated fully for residential use, while other areas could be brought up to industrial/commercial limits only? Or would that not fly with adjacent property like this?

[finehoe]

How about tracking down the successors of the companies who contaminated it to begin with and make them pay for it.

[thelakelander]

Here's one of them....



http://rmkmerrill-stevens.weebly.com/

John Spencer still remembers that day just before Christmas in 2009, in the depths of the economic downturn, when Merrill-Stevens Dry Dock Co. sent workers home and suspended operations.

"After it closed, I went home and said, 'Now what the hell am I going to do?'" said Spencer, 59, who at the time was a yard superintendent at the historic boatyard on the Miami River.

So Spencer stepped up.

He raided his retirement nest egg and leased the facility from the owner, reopening for business six weeks later. Initially the yard brought back 10 workers, about 20 percent of the staff, but as much as the work could support.

"I had one boat to paint, so I said, 'Well, let's paint a boat.' Pretty soon, there was another one," Spencer said. "That was the depths of what they call the Great Recession."

But all that seems so long ago now.

Fast forward to November 2013: Turkish billionaire industrialist and philanthropist Rahmi M. Koç acquired the boatyard in cooperation with Spencer, who became the CEO and a minority partner at the business, which is reflagged RMK Merrill-Stevens.

With the marine industry showing slow, steady signs of recovering over the past two years after a dramatic plunge during the recession, Spencer said: "We've got a full order book for the fall, and we're starting to take work for 2015." The company now has 30 employees.

The new owners are weighing ambitious plans to modernize and upgrade the six-acre facility, whose history dates to 1923 in Miami, and even farther back to its founding in Jacksonville in 1885 by James Merrill and Alonzo Stevens

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article3365318.html

Merrill-Stevens Drydock & Repair Co. is a shipbuilding and drydock company currently based in Miami, Florida.[1] The company was incorporated in 1885 in Jacksonville, Florida by James Eugene Merrill, and was located along the St. Johns River.[2] According to the company, it was the largest Atlantic shipyard south of Norfolk, Virginia during World War II.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill-Stevens_Drydock_%26_Repair_Co.

[MEGATRON]

How about tracking down the successors of the companies who contaminated it to begin with and make them pay for it.

I believe that has been trade and the companies no longer exist.