by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Legislation that would have designated the Haydon Burns Library a local landmark may have been pulled, but the developers that have been awarded the rights to develop the site say they were never worried.
In April, the City issued a Request for Proposals in hopes of finding a party that not only had enough money to buy the now-closed library, but also a plan to further develop its Adams and Ocean streets lot.
Ultimately The Atkins Group, which offered $5 million for the property, was selected by a committee assembled by Mayor John Peyton. According to its proposal, Atkins will raze the building and develop a mixed-use residential tower in its place.
“We never thought (the landmark status) would go through, but it’s nice to have as few distractions as possible when you’re working on something as big as this,” Atkins principal Steve Atkins said. “Now we can stay 100 percent committed to finalizing our negotiations with the City.”
A landmark designation does not make it impossible to demolish a building, though it does make it more difficult.
Atkins said a deal could be made public by as early as next week. The developer has been negotiating closely with Jeanne Miller, deputy director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, for months. “Introductory meetings” with several Council members also took place in the months since project renderings were unveiled in June.
“We just want to let (the City Council) become more familiar with what we have planned,” he said. “We also just want to get to know them a bit better.”
Barring complications, the Atkins deal would go before the Downtown Development Authority, the JEDC and later the City Council for final approval, he said.
“It’s been going really well and, at this stage, we’re basically just dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s,” Atkins said. “We should be in a position to be mobilized within a year of the deal being approved, finalizing our plans and getting all of the necessary permits.”
And despite the relative controversy surrounding the library’s proposed demolition, Atkins said interest in his product has been high.
“And that’s really more of what we’ve been trying to focus on during this time,” he said. “We’re planning on building about 70 or so condominiums and the impressive response from the public has let us know that we’re going to be able to deliver a quality product with a high demand.
“We already have about a dozen people who we’ve put on a short list.”
First floor commercial spaces that would be built are also generating a good buzz, he said.
“Nothing is signed, but we have been getting a lot of calls,” Atkins said.
Council member Suzanne Jenkins, who sponsored the landmark legislation, requested the withdrawal Tuesday, citing “concern about not having enough votes.”
“And if (the bill) were voted down then we couldn’t bring it back for a year,” Jenkins said. “Then we wouldn’t have any recourse at all.”
Jenkins, who represents much of the downtown business district, has decried demolishing the library even before the RFPs went out. She advocated saving it and all but giving it to Peterbrooke Chocolatier, who planned to reuse it as a “chocolate university,” museum and manufacturing plant, maintaining the building’s original look in the process .
Peterbrooke eventually offered $1.9 million for the building.
“But I still think our priorities are completely out of whack if we’re going to allow something to be built there 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 in July. “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.”
Jenkins eventually found several sympathetic ears in the public, though few on the Council and even less in the mayor’s office were swayed.
Jenkins eventually filed the legislation that would make the library a landmark and even offered to take whomever would listen on a tour of the building in an effort to show how it might function if a developer other than Atkins were to take it over. Those invitations fell largely on deaf ears.
Now, she said, there’s not much else she can do.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the administration is going to do,” Jenkins said. “I’m sure they’re working on a deal with Atkins right now, but who knows how long that could take.
“If anybody wants to save the library,” she said, “they need to call the mayor’s office.”