by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Work to stabilize three of downtown’s oldest and most dilapidated buildings is complete. Now the new owners of the Bisbee, Marble Bank and Florida Life Buildings say they will sign a contract this week with a local company to begin “selective demolition” efforts inside.
The buildings, also commonly referred to as the “Laura Trio,” were turned over to the Police and Fire Pension Fund by the City last year. Fund administrator John Keane said about $150,000 has been spent so far on project architectural firm KBJ and also to make the buildings water tight.
Keane and assistant administrator Richard Cohee said Realco Recycling, which has been operating in Jacksonville for 20 years, will be responsible for removing all hazardous materials including asbestos, lead paint and toxic mold in each of the buildings. The company will also be tasked with removing old furniture, fixtures and rotted plaster.
The contract with Realco is valued at approximately $800,000, Cohee said.
“Their work, including the environmental remediation, should take about 120 days to complete,” he said. “We’ll have fences up next week around the buildings which will make this phase of the project the first visible and tangible evidence that work is being done there.
“By Christmas all three should be ready for rebuild.”
That Christmas deadline coincides with a previously agreed upon deadline with the City. Last year, the City Council stipulated that at the end of the year, the Fund must present a clearly defined redevelopment plan. That plan would include a work schedule, a proposed future use and a financing option.
Cohee and Keane said that the cost of bringing the buildings up to code would cost upwards of $19 million.
“And without some type of assistance, the numbers just don’t work,” Keane said. “Hopefully the Council will understand the unique nature of the project and will be willing to work with us to make it happen. Otherwise it would be very difficult for anyone to do.”
The Fund has already applied for a series of grants from the State and Federal Historic Preservation Commissions. Additionally, $1 million was recently allocated from the City’s recently passed Autumn Bond.
Those dollars would help the Fund’s redevelopment efforts, Keane said, but won’t be enough.
“The buildings are a vital part of downtown. They’re icons,” he said, “but this won’t work without some substantial financial support from the City.”
So far City Hall has kept largely silent regarding what role, if any, it would play in redeveloping the Trio.
Earlier this year Council member Sharon Copeland said she was afraid the cost would be too great to do anything.
“The biggest concern I believe we have, is the overall cost of this project,” said Copeland at the time. “We don’t know what we’re getting into, what we’re creating, and this may turn out to be a bottomless pit. Obviously we want to avoid something like that.”
In 2003, Signet Development earned a bid from the City to redevelop the Trio as a mixed-use office condominium site. Work never got off the ground and, ultimately, the City rescinded the bid, saying it would rather see the Trio developed with a heavier residential component.
Shortly after, Keane approached the City, saying that in exchange for the buildings, their estimated $3 million value would count towards the City’s future Pension Fund contributions and ultimately, “reduce its long term debt.”