by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
While Westside Realtors are concerned about the prospect of a Navy jet base bringing the roar of jet planes back to Cecil field, Council member Daniel Davis fears silence from City Hall on the matter could also hurt the market surrounding the military base turned industrial park.
Plans to bring the Navy back to Cecil Field are in a holding pattern after Mayor John Peyton withdrew Monday a request for $50 million in bonds to relocate Cecil’s current corporate tenants.
But until the City definitively states that Cecil will not be returned to the military, Davis is concerned that the prospect of a Cecil jet base will continue to hover over the area’s bustling real estate market.
“I know a builder out there who hasn’t sold one house in five weeks,” said Davis during Monday’s City Council Finance Committee meeting. “This is a business owner who employs people in Duval County.”
Davis, a Westside representative on the Council and a member of the North Florida Builders Association, was concerned that allowing the mayor’s office to withdraw the funding request rather than voting it down would allow the issue to linger along with the negative impact on the Westside market. Allowing the Navy to return to Cecil would amount to a broken promise to the business owners and residents who supported the City’s vision of Cecil Field as an aerospace industrial park, said Davis.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re putting the people that I represent in limbo,” said Davis. “It’s wrong to pull the rug out from under people who invested in the area by buying houses or starting businesses. For many of them, it was probably the largest investment of their life.”
The Cecil debate’s impact on the Westside market largely correlates to the development’s proximity to the former Navy base and the price points of the houses, according to Realtors and builders in the area.
Sales staff at Watson Custom Home Builders said sales at the Dawson’s Creek development adjacent to Cecil Field have dried up completely since the prospect of a Navy return hit the headlines. Staff members, who did not want their names used, said they weren’t sure whether it was the Cecil debate or the accompanying press coverage that was most responsible for the halting sales. The development was listed in a front page story in the Florida Times-Union about Cecil Field and surrounding homes.
Those staff members noted that the development is young — only six houses have been built — and said lack of sales could also be attributed to lack of name recognition. But they said Internet interest and site visits have been down noticeably since the Cecil story broke.
Dawson’s Creek is one of several developments around Cecil Field trying to bring more expensive homes to the value-driven Westside market. The development’s homes start at about $300,000.
It’s the developments that are trying to push the price point envelope where sales are most likely to suffer the Cecil hangover, said Chuck Davis, a Westside Realtor with Keller Williams.
Davis said his sales were “business as usual.” While the future of Cecil Field is a topic of conversation on the Westside, Davis said the law of supply and demand was keeping the market strong.
“I haven’t seen any real change in the market since all that (Cecil Field) came into play as far as prices going higher or lower,” said Davis. “The market is still short on property and short on listings.
“Most of the folks in this market are interested in basic housing. They’re willing to put up with noise issues or other aggravations.”
But the uncertainty surrounding Cecil could hurt builders like Watson trying to push market prices north, said Davis. Prices around a functioning jet base would likely be driven even higher because of the cost of soundproofing the houses, according to the Watson staff.