by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Last week a special advisory committee recommended the City sell the Haydon Burns Library and the land underneath it to the Atkins Group Inc., who wants to raze the building and replace it with a residential tower and retail complex. City Council member Suzanne Jenkins isn’t happy about that decision.
For months, Jenkins has thrown her support behind another party with designs on that site — Peterbrooke Chocolatier. With plans to reuse the existing space for a “chocolate university,” museum and manufacturing plant, Jenkins contends Peterbrooke should have won the bid that would have allowed them to purchase the library.
“Our priorities are completely out of whack if we’re going to allow something to be built that could be in anytown, U.S.A., something no different than a Walgreen or CVS (Pharmacies), and destroy a Jacksonville icon in the process,” Jenkins said of the Atkins proposal. “Personally I think the library is ugly, but there are people out there who think it’s beautiful and I respect that. It’s a part of our history.
“I can’t believe we’re actually going to allow it to be torn down.”
Peterbrooke, Jenkins said, would have been the ideal tenant because, aside from wanting to keep the library intact, it is a “locally owned business that has been able to expand and that wants to help downtown grow by redeveloping one of its signature buildings.”
“I can’t think of anyone better,” she said. “Peterbrooke wants to create something unique downtown, something that can help redefine it and create opportunities.”
Council member Art Graham said Peterbrooke would have “added a greater focus to downtown.”
“In my opinion they could create a point of interest here that you don’t have anywhere else in Jacksonville,” he said. “Maybe we don’t have the tourist flux to support that, but I think what they had in mind, the museum and the factory, has a lot of potential.”
The City has no contract with Atkins at this time. Peyton advisor Susie Wiles said the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission staff would spend the next two months closely reviewing what the developer has proposed and negotiate a purchase and sale agreement. Only after that due diligence would Peyton make a decision on whether the City should make a deal, she said.
Final approval must come from City Council.
“We need a contract before we can do anything,” Wiles said. “We don’t have one yet.”
Jenkins said she would take no further action in either saving the library or helping Peterbrooke until after Peyton makes his next move.
“That’s what I’ve told him,” she said. “I’ve made no secret of the way I feel about this so no one should be surprised by anything I do to make it happen.”
Jenkins declined to comment further, though she suggested that it might be time to revamp the process that allowed Atkins to come out on top.
Atkins was selected by a specially created downtown committee that received proposals from a handful of parties that wanted to buy the soon-to-be vacated library and its lot on the corner of Adams and Ocean Streets.
Each was given a score based on its experience, proposed use and what they were willing to pay to make it happen.
In a letter issued last week by Peyton’s policy chief Adam Hollingsworth, Hollingsworth wrote that Atkins’ $5 million offer, which was well above everyone else’s including Peterbrooke’s $1.9 million lowest bid, was what led to them being selected by the committee.
Jenkins response? “I think the system is broken.”
“It is,” she said. “When we’re looking at a critical piece of property like this, we should be able to have more control over who we do business with, not just give out scores based on an inflexible system. That’s not right.”
According to Jenkins, others downtown agree. Architects, historians and attorneys have already begun mounting their case, she said, in hopes of saving the library.
“Jacksonville has an opportunity to save a unique piece of history which will be lost if the Atkins Group is allowed to tear down the library,” attorney Jeffrey Dunn wrote in a letter to Peyton. “I believe that a sale to Atkins would make a travesty of the real process which is to ensure the best use of Jacksonville’s land. The (selection) process should consider more than profit and should include the aesthetic quality of Jacksonville.”
Jenkins said Peterbrooke kept that in mind.
“Peterbrooke may not have offered the most money,” she said, “but they were willing to offer more in terms of future revenue. That’s got to be worth something.”
Graham said he was not as concerned about saving the library as he was finding the right party to develop that site.
“I don’t think saving the library is the real issue,” he said. “I just think that during the selection process, it may have been smart to look at the bids more as people and less like scores. Atkins may be the best deal in the end and I know we won’t move forward with them if they’re not, but the fact that Peterbrooke wanted to come downtown, bring in something new, because they are ready to expand says something.
“They’re local and have been contributing to the tax base here for years. I think that should have been more of a deciding factor.”
Steve Atkins, Atkins Group president, said his group followed the guidelines and the rules in its pursuit of the library bid. He said he’s confident the proposal’s merits will eventually win over its detractors, Jenkins included.
“I know Ms. Jenkins has been very outspoken in regards to her support of Peterbrooke and that she may be feeling a bit of stinging feeling right now,” Atkins said. “But what we want to bring downtown is in line with the City’s Master Plan with respect to bringing more rooftops, retail and entertainment into the area. We’re confident she will see the overwhelming value in that.
“We exhausted a lot of time and expense to get to this point and we look forward to negotiating our development agreement with the City as planned.”