by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The City plans to build several new parking structures in the downtown area and the Downtown Development Authority will spend the next few months studying five recently received Request for Proposals.
DDA managing director Al Battle said the RFPs also include a management facet.
“We’re asking for developers to respond to our request to build five parking structures and have an opportunity to manage one additional structure, the parking garage at the new Main Library,” said Battle.
Plans call for three smaller garages in the new county courthouse complex and two larger garages around the sports complex. Despite construction schedules that call for the new $34 million baseball park to open in late March and the new $130 million arena to be completed late this year, Battle said there’s no urgency regarding any of the garages in the sports complex area.
“There’s enough surface parking to satisfy the immediate need,” said Battle, adding the fairgrounds, trolley lot and Alltel Stadium lots can accommodate any event until the new garages are finished. “The real need is in the future.”
Battle said he and his staff will spend the next several weeks sifting through each proposal before narrowing down the choices. After that, the process will be similar to any other downtown development project: it will require DDA, Design Review Committee and Jacksonville Economic Development Commission approval before ultimately getting the nod from City Council.
Unlike a majority of the parking garages downtown — and in other areas of the city — Battle said the current proposals call for mixed-use facilities with parking decks above ground-level retail and commercial space.
“These kind of public-private ventures are put together with economic development in mind,” said Battle.
All five proposals call for City incentives in the form of financial assistance, land acquisition, infrastructure assistance or a combination of all three.
Here are the five teams that submitted proposals:
MEDPark, Inc.
• Based in Southfield, Mich. and will team with parking consultants Rich and Associates.
• The design team is headed by local architect Jose Perez of PQH Architects.
• Construction services provided by Colasanti Corporation of DeFuniak Springs.
• Propose to build the courthouse garages and manage the library garage for roughly $41,000,000.
• Construction will start in the fourth quarter of 2004 and be finished in late 2005, in time for the county courthouse opening.
The First Coast Parking Group
• Developer — Garfield Traub Development; designer — Cannon Design; construction manager — Turner Construction Company; operations manager — Central Parking Corporation.
• Propose to build all five parking garages and manage the library garage.
• $36,669,000 (private taxable cost); $49,465,000 (public tax exempt cost).
McGurn Investment Company
• Team — Perry-McCall Construction, Inc.; Rink, Reynolds, Diamond, Fisher, Wilson, PA.
• Propose to build all five garages and manage the library garage.
• For less than $50 million, will build 4,269 spaces with 15,000 square feet of commercial space.
• Will finish each garage before the respective Better Jacksonville Plan project is done.
Jacksonville Police & Fire Pension Fund
• Will team with Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation, which will manage the development and construction process.
• Propose to build all five garages with 4,116 total spaces.
• total project cost — $50.5 million.
Metropolitan Parking Solutions
• Team consists of The Haskell Company, Realistic Transportation Alternatives, Inc., Republic Parking Systems, Carl Walker, Inc. and OK Construction
• Propose to build small courthouse garage (to be finished by November); large courthouse garage (May 2004); sports complex and arena garages (February 2004).
• Commercial retail space in every garage.