by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Standing at the corner of West Adams and Hogan streets is a five-story building once home to the Furchgott’s department store. Now for sale, the building is at the center of some recent activity.
A few blocks away is the new U.S. Courthouse at Jacksonville, Gordo’s Cuban restaurant opened a few doors down and the W.A. Knight Building across the street is full of residents and will soon have a commercial tenant, the Iasyu Japanese restaurant.
“The area appears to be a hot pocket of development and growth,” said Duke Addison, president of Addison Commercial Realty, the company handling the building’s sale.
“With Vestcor’s newest project [The Carlington] getting underway just a block away, there are a lot of exciting things in the neighborhood and it’s changing almost daily.
“We’ve had a number of people look at the building for office conversion or lofts and apartments, but haven’t finalized anything yet.”
Currently, the building, which has an asking price of $1.95 million, is home to a variety of tenants in the first floor retail space. There’s Ziba’s Salon, where the contracted postal center just moved in and an alterations-and-tailoring business. Akel’s Delicatessen, Zodiac Cafe and Pizza Italiano Ristorante offer lunchtime fare at ground level while De Real Ting has made home in the basement, where they serve lunch during the week and host a late-night club after dark.
“The retail space has always done very well,” said Addison. “We’re keeping those units filled and the tenants there are thriving. So there’s built-in income, and ifthe new owner wanted to renovate the top floors, he could do so while still maintaining that income.”
Floors two through five are vacant and offer roughly 10,000 square feet each.
As for the structure of the building, “it’s built like a concrete bunker. It’s very solid,” said Addison, adding that the building would lend itself easily to lofts or general office space.
“It would also be perfect for attorneys or anyone serving the legal industry since it’s so close to the new federal courthouse and the future site of the Duval County Courthouse.”
The 1940s-era building has high ceilings, and though it’s probably best known as the Furchgott’s building, it has other history in Jacksonville.
Real estate developer Jimbo Stockton worked out of the building in the 1980s.
“And his wife, [1980s supermodel] Kim Alexis, ran the Downtown Athletic Club in the basement,” said Addison. “And I’m sure a lot of people remember that the basement was the home of the Milk Bar.”