By Karen Brune Mathis & Mike Mendenhall | Staff Writers
Mayo Clinic expects to provide more specifics in early 2023 about its Downtown location proposed at 214 N. Hogan St. in the city-owned Ed Ball Building.
For now, the health system keeps the description in general terms.
“The best way to describe the location is that it will be for community engagement and research,” said spokesman Kevin Punsky.
He said Dec. 13 that it will not be a facility that provides medical care and Mayo would have more details by the end of the first quarter.
A mayor’s office spokesperson said in October that Mayo’s lease with the city is only for the space vacated by VyStar Credit Union.
The lease is valid for five years from March 15, 2022, to March 14, 2027.
The city said Mayo is performing design work on the space that will then be followed by construction and then move-in.
Jacksonville City Council approved the lease and parking agreement with Mayo Clinic for a “general office use, administrative and clinical research purposes” at the Ed Ball Building.
Council unanimously approved the deal April 26 as part of the meeting’s consent agenda.
The bill approved the lease for 3,072 square feet of ground-floor space in the former VyStar Credit Union branch, which moved to the VyStar Tower.
The agreement also allows for a parking agreement between Mayo and the Downtown Investment Authority for monthly and hourly parking in the Ed Ball Garage concurrent with the lease term.
The agreement provides six nonreserved parking spaces for staff with monthly access cards. It also allows parking for Mayo visitors with validation.
The legislative summary attached to Ordinance 2022-0216 refers to Mayo’s proposed facility as a clinic.
The lease has two five-year renewal options. Mayo would pay $49,152 per year in rent for the first year with a 3% annual increase. That rent would increase to $74,311 by year 15.
A Feb. 28 memo from city Public Works Real Estate Division Chief Renee Hunter and now former Public Works Department Director John Pappas includes a draft of the parking agreement.
“The agreement terms include providing Mayo employees with monthly access cards to the Ed Ball Garage and establishes a parking validation program providing free hourly parking to Mayo patients,” the memo says.
According to the bill, Mayo will pay the city $600 a month for the six parking cards. It also will pay monthly for the validated parking.
The Ed Ball facility would be Mayo Clinic’s first presence in Downtown Jacksonville.
Mayo Clinic is based at 4500 San Pablo Road.
Mayo has been expanding its Florida operations in Jacksonville in recent years because of what the medical system says is increasing patient demand for complex care.
Mayo opened its hospital in Jacksonville in April 2008.
Since 2016, Mayo says it invested more than $1 billion in major construction projects, more than doubling its space by 2026 with facilities for patient care, biomedical research, education and technology.
Mayo also plans to add a 252-room, eight-story Hilton hotel to its campus by early 2024 in addition to other clinical, emergency and parking expansions underway.