by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The Police and Fire Pension Fund is quickly becoming a major stakeholder in the downtown real estate market. The Fund, which already owns its headquarters on Adams Street as well as the land underneath three of the area’s oldest buildings, paid $1 million last month for the empty lot that for 87 years lay under the Center Theatre.
Fund administrator John Keane said plans are in the works to construct a parking garage there that would complement work to refurbish the currently dilapidated Bisbee, Marble Bank and Florida Life buildings.
Whether or not the proposed 700-space garage would have a first floor retail component remains unknown, he said.
Earlier this month Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said it might be time to reconsider making developers include retail options.
“We’ll wait to see what comes of that before we decide what we’ll do on the first floor,” Keane said. “But either way our plans for that site fit perfectly with our goals to bring those buildings back to life. If we could accomplish both at the same time, that would be nice.”
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. Keane said about $150,000 has so far been spent on project architectural firm KBJ and also to make the buildings water-tight.
Realco Recycling, which has an $800,000 contract with the Fund, will be responsible for removing all hazardous materials including asbestos, lead paint and toxic mold in each of the buildings. The company is also being tasked with removing old furniture, fixtures and rotted plaster.
Fund assistant administrator Richard Cohee said in August that Realco should be finished within 120 days.
“By the end of this year or the beginning of next year we expect all three should be ready for rebuild,” he said,
That deadline could coincide 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 be 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.
“We’re prepared to make a very strong case to prove that.”
The Fund has already applied for a series of grants from the State and Federal Historic Preservation Commissions. Additionally, $1 million was allocated from the City’s recently passed Autumn Bond. Those dollars would help the Fund’s redevelopment efforts, Cohee said, but would not 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. We’re open to whatever option the City may have in mind.
“Fortunately we have the wherewithal to pay for the work up front. If the City wants to pay us back over time that would work for us.”
But 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,” Copeland said 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 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.”