by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
City Council vice president Suzanne Jenkins is known for her tenacity and persistence. That’s how she got elected from District 4 in 1999 and people say that’s how she approaches the causes she believes in.
The Nov. 14 decision by the Historic Preservation Commission to not tag the two LaRose buildings and the Rhodes building with landmark status didn’t sit real well with Jenkins, but it didn’t raise her blood pressure that much, either. Jenkins, an advocate of both downtown redevelopment and historic reservation, sensed that decision was coming. She also had an ace up her sleeve.
The decision by the HPC paves the way for the City to move forward with the new $95 million downtown library. However, to conclude that the three buildings will all become victims of the wrecking ball just might be jumping the gun. Jenkins concedes that because of its design, the Rhodes building is a goner. However, contrary to what many have said, she will not give up on the two LaRose buildings and strongly believes that they can be relocated to another area of downtown and redeveloped.
Jenkins’ logic is based on what Mayor John Delaney told the City Council during his last Better Jacksonville Plan update.
“My understanding is that the mayor said in our last Better Jacksonville update that they are looking at moving the two LaRose buildings,” said Jenkins. “I know that there are people looking at it.”
Jenkins said her understanding is that incorporating the three buildings into the design of the library was a budgetary item within the $95 million price tag. Because that idea has been scrapped, Jenkins contends that the money that would have been used to incorporate the buildings could now be funneled into moving the two LaRose buildings, perhaps to the sports complex area.
“The cost to keep them in the design is not there now, so that frees up some money,” said Jenkins. “If we move them, we still save money and preserve part of historic downtown Jacksonville. I don’t believe it’s unaffordable or will cost too much to move them because it was going to cost too much to keep them in the design.”
Delaney’s chief of staff Audrey Moran said a meeting is scheduled today to discuss the fate of the three buildings. Like Jenkins, she believes the Rhodes building will be demolished. But, the two LaRose buildings could be spared.
“At Suzanne’s request, we agreed to evaluate the feasibility and cost of saving and moving the other two buildings,” said Moran. “I have not seen the results of that study.”
At this moment, because of the way the district lines are drawn, the three buildings are in Jenkins’ district. However, she essentially shares downtown with Council members Reggie Fullwood and Pat Lockett-Felder. If the two buildings are moved, chances are they would no longer be in her district. That does not bother Jenkins at all; losing them to demolition would.
“They are in my district now, but I don’t care if they go in Reggie’s or Pat’s,” said Jenkins. “I just want to see them preserved somehow. We [the City] have plenty of lots and I want to see somebody do something with them.”
One idea Jenkins would like City Council to seriously consider is having the City start acquiring many of the older buildings downtown through whatever process is necessary and economically practical for the taxpayers. She said she’s tired of seeing historic buildings remain boarded up because of absentee owners who live in another state or even out of the country. She’d also like to see the City enforce the building codes as they are written and start fining the owners for code violations.
Eventually, Jenkins contends, the City will be able to simply take over ownership of the buildings. After that, she’d like to see the City either redevelop them or sell them at a rock-bottom prices to private developers and still make a little money.
“The whole idea is to redevelop downtown,” said Jenkins. “That will take some investment from the City and some from the private sector. I’d like to see the developers use their money to upgrade the buildings instead of simply buying them. I’ve been talking about that for two and a half years.”
Jenkins admits her idea is a bit radical and may even infringe on the rights of the property owners. However, because many of them have no apparent genuine desire to refurbish and redevelop the older buildings downtown, Jenkins’ concern is more for the surrounding property owners — the ones who have businesses downtown.
“The 19 City Council members have never had this discussion. There must be some reason we can’t or shouldn’t,” said Jenkins. “It might be a violation of the owners’ property rights. But, what about the property rights of others?”