by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Mayor John Peyton will sign today a deal with the Police & Fire Pension Fund that pledges $5 million in City money to help the Fund renovate three historic downtown buildings.
The deal, to be signed in Peyton’s office during an 11 a.m. ceremony, closes a 20-month negotiation between the Fund and City. The parties agreed in principle more than a year ago, but have haggled over how much City money the Fund would get and how the money would be dispersed.
The deal Peyton will sign gives the Fund $1 million in May then pays out $1 million each of the following four Novembers, said Fund Administrator John Keane.
“This is the deal we’ve been working toward,” said Keane.
The City handed over the deeds for the properties — the Marble Bank, Bisbee and Florida Life buildings known collectively as the Laura Street Trio — in exchange for a $3 million credit on pension fund contributions owed to the City.
The development incentives will also count against the City’s share of the Fund’s unfunded liability. That’s the gap between the Fund’s assets and the benefits it owes.
The City pays each year to help the Fund fill that gap. Last year, the City paid more than $30 million to the Fund. This year’s contribution should shrink from that level, said Keane.
The deal got a close look from the City Council. Some Council members were concerned that the Fund might flip the properties for profit. Others thought offering City money was a departure from tougher new incentive policies being considered by the Council.
But in a previous interview, Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said the deal with the Fund presented some unique circumstances.
First, the City previously owned the buildings and had an interest in seeing them developed, he said. Second, the City already owed the Fund millions of dollars.
“It’s not an incentive in their case,” said Barton. “They’re taking on an obligation to restore those buildings that we would have had to pay for anyway.”
The Fund’s early work on the dilapidated buildings didn’t have to wait for the final deal. Contractors have been preparing the buildings for renovation for more than a year.
Keane said the buildings are “90 percent rehabilitated.” He expects to start new construction by the end of the year. The deal with Peyton also approves the Fund’s plans to build a parking garage on the corner of West Adams and Laura streets.
Currently, the Fund plans to build a 300-space garage, but Keane said the size might be doubled if surrounding developments create the demand.