The city issued a permit Jan. 7 for Realco Recycling Co. Inc. to start partial demolition at a 69-year-old building in San Marco slated for conversion into professional offices.
Realco Recycling will gut the interior of the two-story main building and tear down a one-story structure that covered a pool and spa in the back of the property at a cost of $50,000, according to the permit.
Developer Bill Ware intends to buy the building at 1939 Hendricks Ave. and start on the project for completion by summer. It is at northeast Atlantic Boulevard and Hendricks Avenue.
He estimates work will start in the first quarter on the estimated $3 million project, which includes the purchase price, and be completed in four to five months.
City records show the main structure was built for the branch office of the Peninsular Life Insurance Co. It more recently was used as the Club Jacksonville men’s club. It has been closed and the city Municipal Code Compliance Division condemned the structure July 26, 2019, deeming it unsafe and subject to demolition.
Ware said the property sits on about 0.33 acres.
He intends to renovate the 8,300-square-foot, two-story building into Class A office space and build a lobby, public restrooms and an elevator where the one-story structure, about 2,000 square feet, will be removed.