by Bailey White
Staff Writer
The Dyal-Upchurch building is one of the oldest in Jacksonville and one of the first built by famed architect Henry John Klutho after the fire of 1901. The six-story building, built in 1902 at 4 E. Bay St. next to the Main Street Bridge, is listed on both local and national historic registries and is now entering the second phase of a restoration project that will transform the space into an upscale office building.
“It was always our intention to completely restore the building,” said Gary Husk, a co-owner of the building and of Husk Jennings, the advertising and public relations firm occupying the sixth floor.
Husk, along with his wife, Melanie, and their business partner Keith Francois, purchased the building a few years ago.
“We became infatuated with the idea of restoring an old building in the downtown area,” said Husk, whose search for the perfect space proved rather time consuming.
“I looked at different properties for about a year before I found this one,” he said.
At the time, the group renovated the sixth floor and now will continue the work on the other floors and the facade of the building.
“We’ve already begun demolition work,” said Husk. “The building will essentially be gutted.”
The lobby will feature high ceilings, modern light fixtures and a wall of glass. Husk Jennings will move its advertising department to the first floor, where a conference area with what Husk called “maxed-out audio visual equipment,” will be located.
“Our other tenants will have access to that, too,” he said.
And the building’s facade will be cleaned, reappointed and have new window treatments and, most likely, canopies.
Each floor offers about 7,200 square feet of space and Husk said a few tenants are already showing interest.
“The law office of Edwards, Cohen, Sanders & Dawson will take the fifth floor,” he said, adding that current tenants Southeast Legal Copy and Securities Research, Inc. will continue to lease space in the building during construction.
“We’ll work around them until we’re finished with their new space,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be done with that part of renovations by the fall of this year.
“And we’re in negotiations for the restaurant space with someone who’s interested in opening a tapas bar.”
As for the remainder of the space, Husk said an ideal tenant could come from a range of professions.
“An architectural firm would be ideal, or another law firm or someone from the medical industry could also work well,” he said. “We’re looking for two additional full-floor tenants, because that’s the best use of the space. And we’ll work with the tenants to give them what they want out of the space. Right now, it’s like a blank sheet.”
It’s a lot of work, but Husk said it will be done within a year.
“We have a development agreement with the City that we’ll finish it within that time,” said Husk. “And by then it should be a really cool place.”