by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Jacksonville may be getting its first true skyscraper.
Bayard Spector, owner of Spector Real Estate Investments Inc. out of Miami, has purchased the Nolan building from Bailey Publishing President Jim Bailey and Dalton Agency executives Dave Josserand, Michael Munz and Jim Dalton.
According to a letter submitted to the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, Spector confirmed he has purchased the building and intends to build a 70-story complex that will include Jacksonville’s first five-star condominium-hotel. The project will be called the St. Johns Hotel and Residences and will consist of 169 five-star condo-hotel rooms, 469 condo residences, 1,264 parking spaces and a nearly 35,000-square-foot ballroom.
Spector said the first floor will house the hotel lobby and specialty retail stores as well as a 15,000-square-foot European spa, a 48-track state-of-the-art recording studio and multi-media complex, restaurants and an upscale nightclub. The entire development will encompass about 1.5 million square feet.
Bailey confirmed the sale to Spector, whose family started Spector Music Stores, a public company, in 1948.
“It is my understanding he has applied to build a multi-level high-rise on the property,” said Bailey, who closed on the deal Tuesday.
Bailey and Dalton purchased the building with the intention of housing Bailey Publishing and the Dalton Agency under one roof in the Sports Complex area of downtown. The Nolan building is across from what will be LandMar’s Shipyards development and about 100 yards from the Baseball Grounds. Bailey said the decision to sell the building to Spector was based on it being a good business deal — one that may prove even better for the east end of downtown.
“Our original plans called for our entire operation to end up in the Nolan building,” said Bailey, who also owns Florida Crown Printing, a printing company currently based in Maxville that is relocating to Jacksonville. “We have a contract on a facility to house our production facility in Brooklyn that we would move our Clay County operation into as well as our production staff in downtown.”
The current Bailey Publishing building at the corner of Bay and Newnan streets is for sale and Bailey said its sale and the relocation of the staff will be addressed after Florida Crown has moved.
“We won’t determine that until we move our production facility and it is up and running,” said Bailey. “I may sell this building and relocate to another area of downtown.”
“Because of our commitment to downtown, the Dalton Agency is entertaining several other real estate opportunities downtown,“ said Munz.
The architect for the St. Johns Hotel and Residences will be Charles Seiger of the Seiger-Suarez Architectural Partnership.
“Their creations have single-handedly changed the skylines of Miami, especially South Beach,” said Spector.
The development would mean there would be two Spectors in town. Bayard’s brother Michael, chairman of Margo Farms Carib, also a publicly traded company, purchased a riverfront home and a condominium in the Peninsula on the Southbank earlier this year.