by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission is packing up its offices this week, vacating its two floors in the City Hall Annex and heading to the Police & Fire Pension Building on Adams Street.
While this week will be all about moving in one sense of the word, the JEDC has been moving in other ways as well, putting together projects to restore historic buildings that had been abandoned for years and resolving issues with property owners that had been hanging over City government for just as long.
“We’ve had a good two years and I see a lot more on the horizon,“ said Ron Barton, executive director of the JEDC.
Barton assumed command of the JEDC in August 2005 and found a firm foundation in place when he arrived.
“Historic preservation people always use the term ‘has good bones’ and we had good bones in the sense that the Commission had adopted some good guiding principals with the strategic plan and objectives even before I got here.
“The mayor expected me to take that and move us into where the JEDC’s promise has always been – implementation. That’s how I’ve always seen my role here – to find ways to implement and execute,” he said.
One of the first things Barton did was revamp the commission’s staff and streamline both the budget and the processes involved in getting development projects off the ground. He said it’s all about using resources to maximum advantage.
“We’ve added some good people and we have better used the people who were already here. In any organization, it’s all about getting the best out of your people. As management, part of that is helping them focus and giving them direction. We have limited resources in terms of people so we have to apply them in areas that are most productive. I think we’ve done that and it shows in the kinds of momentum we’re starting to build.”
Barton said another big change that has been implemented is how the various entities involved making projects become reality are working together.
“There are a lot of good people in City government and in our sister agencies like JTA and JEA. I think the JEDC has helped provide more focus in that area as well. There is a better understanding of the vision we want to accomplish and figuring out how to implement the vision.
“JEDC doesn’t lay a single brick. That’s not what we do – we’re not Public Works. All we can do is formulate and facilitate and we have to have a lot of partners to actually implement programs. It takes a lot of teamwork.
Barton also said that wide range of responsibilities creates a unique role for the commission.
“Part of what the JEDC does is enable the private sector to build projects and bring businesses that accomplish our objectives to build projects that grow the tax base and create jobs. We’re just a conduit through government.”
For years, developers came to the City with their hands out looking for incentives and grants. Barton said the protocol now is to leverage the City’s resources to get the most value.
“There has been a shift toward understanding that public investment may still be required for a project or in a business recruitment exercise, but resources should be used for strategic reasons. we have to ask ourselves what we’re trying to accomplish for the community – not just look at the merits of one deal. We have to look at what we get for our investments.”
Creating situations like the Laura Trio transaction that can escalate into greater gains for the community is a good example of that concept. Barton said the City transferring the buildings to the Police & Fire Pension Fund was good for the City and good for the fund. The Fund selling the property to Kuhn Development was good for the fund, good for Kuhn and good for Downtown development.
“The Police and Fire Pension Fund stepped in and took the asset from the City and really put it on path. Then they shifted that asset to Kuhn Development and that was a critical part of the sequence. It took a historical asset and moved it into the private sector. We needed the Fund to do what they did and they did it well. They stabilized the buildings and did the basic demolition. Kuhn is more adept at commercializing and bringing a project like that to the market. I see it as a sequence that really served the community well.”
Barton pointed out that Downtown is definitely on a new path compared to even a few years ago.
“On the historic preservation front, there have been multiple projects. They are not all City initiatives, but in the last year, there’s the Barnett Building, the Laura Trio and now the Haverty’s Building. Those are three significant historical assets that were frankly eyesores with no future. That has all changed in just a year. This has been a banner year from the historic preservation standpoint.”
Barton said he predicts more similar projects in the future.
“That’s what makes Downtown as attractive as it is. We still have some great historic buildings available for development.”
He considers the Landing parking agreement another Downtown success story. The conflict between the City and the owner was a source of a great deal of negative rhetoric a year ago but that too has changed, said Barton.
“After a cool-off period. Toney Sleiman and Mayor Peyton and I sat down and we quickly go to a place where we could make a deal. It took us a while to put words to the deal, but we did it.
“In the span of a year, we went from reactive in terms of Downtown to proactive related to Downtown. We’ve achieved some real movement on projects, both closing deals and projects in construction.”
Barton said one of the things that will begin to take shape in the next year is the development of the Brooklyn neighborhood along Riverside Avenue.
“One of the things I’m most proud of in my short tenure is the base we’ve built for momentum to take over in Brooklyn. We helped Hallmark Partners through the development process. We got Miles Development to come to town. There’s a lot of risk involved in such a large land assemblage, but they’re here with the purpose to build, not speculate. Those are significant in roads.
“This has been a year of hard work with JTA, the Florida Department of Transportation, the City, Hallmark and Miles. We’ve created the framework for them to move forward this summer. If you just drive by it every day, what’s happening may not be evident, but to those of us who work on it every day, we know it’s about to pop.”
Another project that is coming to fruition is the revision of Downtown zoning to promote more business and residential growth. The JEDC’s Downtown task forces are writing new guidelines that will become an blueprint for the urban core, Barton said.
“I’m excited about this next year because we’ll be able to actually act on the guidance we got from the task forces. We’ll have a cohesive action plan for Downtown, not just a collection of initiatives or random projects. Acting on that is the really exciting thing for next year.”