by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
After 56 years, KBJ Architects, Inc., the architectural firm responsible for most of the Jacksonville skyline, is still making its mark on Jacksonville, and is also revisiting a category that has been relatively dormant on its drafting tables since the 1970s — condominiums.
With two condominium projects in the works, one inside Marsh Landing called Quadrille, and a double condo project in the Amelia Island Plantation, the Dunes Club and Ocean Club, KBJ is continuing its mission to be varied in scope and vigilant in the diversity of its design.
KBJ designed condos in St. Petersburg and Clearwater 20 years ago, and is now reengaging the concept in Northeast Florida.
“In this genre, we are steered by heavy market expertise,” said Walter Taylor, who has run KBJ since the 1970s. “We try to follow the lead and direction of developers who are actual stakeholders in the projects. We don’t want to build a white elephant and not have it be sold.”
The work KBJ is doing in the condo field is indicative of a general shift toward greater interest in condos in Northeast Florida.
“Jacksonville still has a much younger population than South Florida, but that’s changing,” said Taylor, who lives in a condo in Epping Forest and noted that condos appeal to older people who don’t want to put up with things like yard work. “And of course populations in Florida are moving north generally just because we still have land available to develop.”
In addition to condos, available land makes Jacksonville an attractive place for people who want “yuppie housing,” like townhouses, Taylor said.
The condo projects have about 20-30 units each, and aren’t super highrises. Taylor said the tallest condos locally are in Jacksonville Beach, but zoning has changed so future developments won’t be so tall.
He said the lofts planned for downtown are certainly “adventuresome,” meaning that all the elements to support downtown residential properties, including critical mass, aren’t there yet.
“But I am just amazed at how many people are enthusiastic about Springfield,” he said. “I hope it works.”
Praising the Better Jacksonville Plan as a “big idea,” Taylor said that the city is the highest art form there is.
“Painting, sculpture, and dance are all great,” he said. “But the city is the complex result of unlimited influences. There’s more than one thing going on.”
KBJ designed such corporate downtown landmark buildings as Independent Square, Humana, BellSouth, Prudential (old and new), CSX and the new U.S. Courthouse. KBJ is in the middle of designing the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Phase Three of the Advanced Technology Center for FCCJ and the new office building for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority. KBJ also designed the airports in Orlando an Savannah.
“Plus, we’re doing about five churches all over the state,” said Terry Durand, marketing director for KBJ. “And a major dormitory project for Florida State University, the first new housing project there since the 1950s.”
KBJ is also adding an addition to the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts as well as an interior renovation.
KBJ, named for three University of Florida-trained architects, was actually started by vaudeville theater designer Roy Benjamin in 1946. The firm likes to tout its belief in the traditional artistry of its design work. In other words, KBJ has 19 registered architects, four graduate interns and four interior designers. Many firms, according to Durand, just have a few licensed architects plus CAD staff, who can layout buildings but aren’t as concerned with the aesthetics or community integration aspects of the design.
And that will be part of the KBJ pitch when they go to a public meeting in June to vie for the contract to design the new county courthouse, which will occupy six blocks behind the downtown Greyhound Bus station.
KBJ often teams with large, national architecture firms and they say clients are often surprised at the scope of the projects that KBJ can handle for a relatively small firm. The old Prudential building on the Southbank is up for a Test of Time award from the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In 1992, KBJ was selected by the AIA as Florida’s firm of the year.
Last month, the KBJ office, located in the historic Porter Mansion on Julia Street, was getting a new coat of paint. According to Durand, they were going for a couple different shades of white. Designed by architect H.J. Klutho in 1902, the four-story, 16,000 square-foot residence was built by lumber magnate Thomas Porter. It was in jeopardy of being condemned by the City in the early 1980s and was bought by KBJ to serve as its corporate office. The old church next door is still used to construct models and for company basketball games.
Following the lead of Benjamin, whose designed structures such as the Florida Theatre that withstood the test of time, Taylor has been a voice for historic preservation in Jacksonville for many years.
“But it’s also very important to embrace the theme of Florida, in terms of layout, vista, exposure and architecture,” he said. “One of the things people like about what we did with the airport in Orlando is that it fits so well within the context of the natural environment and we embraced qualities indigenous to Florida.”