by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
By 2009, there might be a marina to go along with a brand new, 51-story high-rise condominium on the Southbank.
South Shore Group Partnership, LLC (SSGP) — which is owned by Aetna — has applied to build a 128-slip marina adjacent to the Aetna Building and The St. John condominiums, according to Eric Lindstrom, Downtown development manager for the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
“It will be next to the Hines development and it will be a stand-alone marina that will also benefit residents of the Hines development,” said Lindstrom. “They are currently going through the permitting phase.”
Lindstrom said the permitting phase can be lengthy, and it will likely take at least a year before the marina gets final approval. Because the structure would be both above and below the St. Johns River, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will review the project, which needs approval from both.
“Both will review the application because the project deals with submerged lands,” said Lindstrom, adding the river near the Aetna Building is deep enough for a marina and won’t need to be dredged.
Walt O’Shea is vice president of Hines. He said his company briefly considered building a marina in conjunction with the condominium tower, but Hines knew Aetna had long term plans for a marina.
“It will clearly be located immediately adjacent to our condominium and it will add another amenity to the many amenities we will already offer our residents,” said O’Shea. “Our residents will have the ability to lease spaces. There’s no priority for residents, but I think clearly SSGP is looking at the condominium residents and actively marketing to them and making them aware of the amenity.”
Lindstrom said the marina will add to Downtown’s boat-slip inventory by providing a mostly public marina. Right now, there are a few small marinas in the Downtown area, but they are full or tied to a private development.
“The only ones are at River City Brewing Co. and Berkman Plaza,” said Lindstrom. “The one at River City is small — it has about 63 slips – and is mostly full. The marina at Berkman is also small and it’s tied to the Berkman condo.”
Lindstrom said typically the permitting process takes nine months to a year to complete and is primarily handled by state and federal entities. Ultimately, said Lindstrom, the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund — a group comprised of Gov. Charlie Crist and his cabinet members — must approve the project.
“They sit as that body. They change hats as they go through issues,” said Lindstrom, adding at some point in the process a biologist from the DEP will do an analysis of the river at the proposed site.
“There are not many marinas Downtown and this is a good district to have them,” he said, adding other areas that might eventually see marinas include the Shipyards, the old JEA generating site just east of the School Board building and the Wyndham hotel.
O’Shea said 2007 presales for The St. John are going well and have rebounded nicely from the last quarter of 2006.
“We are starting to see the market pick back up,” he said. “It’s up significantly from the last quarter.”
O’Shea said the goal is to break ground this year and complete construction some time in 2009. Once completed, The St. John will have 300 residential condos and 15 penthouses ranging from $400,000 to $2 million. Miami-based Arquitectonic is the design firm.