by David Ball
Staff Writer
The interior demolition is almost complete at the old Haverty’s building on the corner of Laura and Duval streets, and project managers said they are almost ready to begin construction of what will become the new City Hall Annex.
The $10 million redevelopment project is scheduled to be complete by October 2008, although John Keane, executive director of the Police and Fire Pension Fund that owns the building, said he’s pushing for a July 2008 completion.
“It’s ambitious, I know,” said Keane. “But we’re results-driven, and we want performance, not promises.”
It seems Keane’s group is one of the few showing significant progress on Downtown redevelopment projects. Keane mentioned the stalled Kuhn Co.’s redevelopment of the Laura Trio as an example.
“We are able to move somewhat faster,” said Keane. “We have less bureaucracy and committees to deal with, and we’re not dependent on the market.”
The Pension Fund also has experience. Keane and his staff operate out of a building on the corner of Adams and Main streets the Fund redeveloped in only nine months in 2001. The building’s design won awards for KBJ Architects, and it has since been cited as an example of successful Downtown revitalization.
“I think it kick-started the redevelopment in this area,” said Keane. “When John Delaney was mayor, he described Adams Street as the necklace around Downtown Jacksonville, and our building as the pendant.”
Keane said the Fund is authorized to invest up to 10 percent of its value (about $100 million) in real estate. He said $85 million is invested in New York, while the remainder is here in Jacksonville at the Fund’s offices, the Haverty’s building and the former AOL building currently being leased to the University of North Florida.
The Fund also used to own the Laura Trio, which it received from the City in lieu of a $3 million contribution into the fund. The Pension Fund then sold the buildings to Kuhn.
The Haverty’s building was conveyed to the Fund the same way in fall 2006, with the intent to have the Pension Fund redevelop the building and lease the space to the City, which would have the option to buy the building at a later date.
In the third quarterly report, Keane states that construction manager Danis is now securing the final bids from contractors in order to present a guaranteed maximum price in early November.
“It may be 10- to 15-percent higher than the $10 million,” said Keane, “just due to the staleness of the original estimates. Construction costs have gone up since then.”
Keane’s report stated that designs also had to be changed when the City informed him the Planning Department wouldn’t be moving into the annex to join the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
The building itself has also presented some unforeseen challenges. The six-story 1909 building was home to the New York Life Insurance company and was also occupied by the YMCA, complete with basement swimming pool and top-floor sleeping quarters.
It went through two series of modifications in 1930 and 1945, with the last tenant being the Haverty’s Furniture store. Walter Taylor of KBJ Architects said the building was not designed for modern offices.
“The biggest problem we had to resolve was the integration of the stairs and the elevators up through the building so we did not remove any existing structure,” said Taylor. “The floor heights varied, so we had to create some very slender A/C systems, but we made it work.”
Elevators, stairs, utility space and bathrooms will be squeezed into one corner of the building, allowing an L-shaped workspace on each floor. The building is designed to keep its historic exterior and retain that design on the interior of the first floor, although higher floors will look like modern offices. The building will also employ many environmentally friendly elements to make it the city’s first “green” building.
Despite the design changes and building challenges that put a six-month delay on the project, Keane still expects to cut three months off that time, and that’s fine by Danis contractors.
“The Pension Fund makes their decisions and then we go to work,” said Foreman Mike Congden. “They are really one of the best people we get to work with.”