by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
It might be time for the City to start looking for private partners in its efforts to build a County Courthouse, one prominent member of the mayor’s courthouse committee believes.
Jim Rinaman, a shareholder at Marks Gray, is one of two lawyers on an advisory group put together by Mayor John Peyton to help determine what course the City should take in building a new County Courthouse.
Everybody seems to agree that the 50-year-old Bay Street building is no longer sufficient, but there are a lot of different opinions about what kind of courthouse the City should build and how much it should spend.
Thursday, Rinaman threw a new suggestion into the mix: let a private developer build the courthouse, then lease it to the City. Under the terms of the plan suggested to Rinaman by U.S Circuit Judge Gerald Tjoflat, the City would deed the land and the building to a private company, which would pay to build the courthouse. The City would sign a 25- to 30-year lease for the building and would take ownership after the lease expires.
“Judge Tjoflat suggested it, because he’s seen it work well at the federal level,” said Rinaman.
The plan has sparked the interest of City Council Vice President Kevin Hyde, said Rinaman, and has been discussed in the mayor’s office. Rinaman said the City might have to start thinking creatively if it wants to get the courthouse built.
“The main thing is, we have to build this thing sooner rather than later,” said Rinaman.
The longer the City waits, the longer the County’s courts will have to labor in an inadequate building, said Rinaman. Jacksonville’s legal community largely agrees that the current courthouse is cramped and unsafe.
But several things have changed since Mayor John Delaney first promised to build the courthouse for about $200 million. New security requirements brought on by the 2001 terrorist attacks have pushed the cost higher, as did the 2000 census numbers which showed the County’s population had grown faster than expected. Also, the cost of concrete and steel have skyrocketed and continues to climb.
“We’re either going to have to build less than 100 percent of the courthouse we were promised in the Better Jacksonville Plan or else reduce the price drastically,” said Rinaman.
The private partnership idea might be the only way to build a courthouse in keeping with the scope of the original plans, he said.
“If you want to buy a Cadillac, but you only have money for a Chevy, then you can’t afford a Cadillac,” he said. “But you can use the Chevy money to lease a Cadillac.”