New owners are changing the name of the Elkins Building at 701 W. Adams St. to the Diamond S Building and will market it to lawyers and legal services.
It’s a block from the Duval County Courthouse.
The city approved a permit Thursday for an “S” to be placed on the building as part of the rebranding.
New owner Irving Snyder said Tuesday the name should be posted Aug. 28.
He chose the name for his real estate company because in the 1920s his grandfather owned a large Colorado ranch called the Diamond K and the cattle were branded as such.
“I told myself if I ever had a company I would call it the Diamond S,” he said.
Snyder said in the 1980s he developed a condo project in Sanford, Michigan, and called it Diamond S. Since then it has been the management company for a lot of his properties.
It now is a Florida corporation.
Cross Regions Real Estate is the property manager and represented the buyer in the sale.
Carl Tremble, Cross Regions Real Estate director of brokerage services, said the building also is being marketed for its available parking, which is five spaces for every 1,000 square feet of space leased.
The 32,300-square-foot, two-story building was developed in 2000. Upon the sale, it was nearly 50 percent leased to two tenants – the Spohrer Dodd law firm and Orange Legal Litigation Support Services.
Marketing materials show that 17,135 square feet of space remains available, comprising 1,746 square feet on the first floor and 15,389 square feet on the second.
The property occupies 1.7 acres at Adams and Jefferson streets.
Tremble said his team is contacting law firms to make a personal invitation to consider the building.
“We wanted to really, in detail, explain some of the advantages of the building,” he said.
Tremble said other firms are moving to town and some outside of Downtown might want a location there.
He said his group was trying to reach anyone who needed proximity to the courthouse.
Colliers International announced recently that it arranged the $4.4 million sale of the Elkins Building to Texas-based Southbelt Park Ltd. and Florida-based IGS Diamond S Inc.
ELI Partners LLC sold the building. It formerly was anchored by Elkins Constructors Inc.
Snyder also owns the Haskell Building at 111 Riverside Ave. through Peppertree Partners Oregon LLC and commercial property in St. Augustine.
Snyder didn’t say if he had targeted more buildings to buy.
“I always keep my eyes open, thank you,” he said.
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