by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Though it may look like nothing more than a few mounds of dirt, representatives from One Shipyard Place say that is about to change.
Currently in negotiations with several financial institutions, representatives from TriLegacy Group said once they have secured a loan, vertical construction could begin by the end of January.
“The foundation is in and when you drive by the property you’ll notice those large dirt mounds are a lot smaller than they were a few months ago,” said Hamilton Traylor, TriLegacy Group president. “Right now we’re in the middle of the paper work needed to move into the next phase of construction. That’s when you’ll start to see a lot of activity, much more visible site work and utility installation.”
Barring complications, Traylor said a significant portion of One Shipyard Place could be complete by the second quarter of 2005, just after Jacksonville is finished hosting the Super Bowl.
“By then it will substantially complete,” he said. “And we’ve actually been meeting with representatives from the Super Bowl Host Committee to talk about the logistics of how our property will factor in during that time and to basically better understand what we’ll need to have completed by then.”
Likening that process to a Rubik’s Cube, Traylor said construction efforts would likely be halted about three weeks before the February 2005 game, with much of the property serving various functions.
“The parcel of land we call Area One between One Shipyard Place and the the Kids Kampus at Metro Park is probably going to be used for corporate parties, invite-only type things put on by major sponsors of the game,” he said. “A big chunk of land just West of Hogan’s Creek will be available for general use by all pedestrians. As I understand it, that is going to double as a major hub for a lot of passengers riding in on buses and water taxies.”
Traylor said The Shipyards were sensitive to complexity of the Super Bowl and would try to be as flexible as possible in and around that time.
“We’ll do what we can, but we’ll resume normal operations right after everything has died down,” said Traylor. “After all, time is still money.”
Traylor said options were being discussed with Super Bowl organizers, but there was “no final conclusion” as to what The Shipyards would get in return for remaining flexible.
“We can’t really say right now,” he said, “but we’ve been talking about things like becoming an in-kind sponsor, things like that.
“But part of it is that, because the property will look substantially completed, we’ll have the opportunity to showcase it to a lot of people. It’s part of what the City has helped paid for.”