by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
A medical campus is being proposed on Jacksonville’s Westside near Cecil Commerce Center and developer Toney Sleiman said he is looking for tenants for the project.
“Usually when we (submit a proposal), we will throw everything into it and secure entitlements, so if we do have somebody that comes along we can build to suit and lease it back to them,” said Sleiman, CEO and president of Sleiman Enterprises.
Memorial Health spokesman Adam Landau said the project has no connection to its planned 85-bed West Jacksonville Medical Center.
The Memorial project is looking for an almost 50-acre parcel within the 32221 ZIP code for the facility, which will employ 800 people at an annual payroll of around $60 million, he said.
Construction is anticipated to start in 2013 with completion by 2016.
At-Large Group 1 City Council member Ronnie Fussell concurred with Landau’s statement.
“In talking with their representatives, Memorial Health has not chosen a site and is still exploring options,” said Fussell.
The Sleiman proposal is in the 32221 ZIP code, which is in the At-Large Group 1 boundaries.
The “entitlements” Sleiman mentioned include a fair share agreement, which helps the project meet concurrency requirements.
They mandate “that before any proposed development can obtain a final development order in Jacksonville, it must be demonstrated that its impact can be adequately absorbed by the public facilities.”
A fair share agreement between the City and Sleiman Enterprises for a mixed-use medical project, identified as “Jacksonville Heights Medical Campus,” is being reviewed by Jacksonville City Council.
There were no comments at a public hearing for the agreement at Tuesday’s council meeting. The project is scheduled for a public hearing at the council’s Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee meeting Jan. 18.
The project includes a hospital of up to 600,000 square feet and 500 beds, up to 40,000 square feet of medical offices, up to 20,000 square feet of specialty retail uses, and a pharmacy with a drive-through window, which would be on about 22 acres on Normandy Boulevard at Chaffee Road.
The agreement ensures that proper infrastructure will be available to handle the increased traffic flows that are created by development.
If the number of vehicle trips projected to be generated by the development exceeds the capacity of the roadways, for example, then the developer can either make the improvements or pay a fair share assessment to the City fund so the City can make the improvements.
Roads that could be affected by the development include Normandy Boulevard from New World Avenue to Chaffee Road and Chaffee Road to Herlong Road; Chaffee Road from Normandy to Branan Field-Chaffee Road; Blair Road from Normandy to Crystal Springs Road; Branan Field Road from 103rd Street to the Duval/Clay County line; and 103rd Street from Branan Field-Chaffee Road to Shindler Road.
The fair share assessment for the medical campus is $2,146,243 with a 10-year term and a variable inflation rate declining from 5 percent in year one to 3.3 percent per year in years six and beyond.
Staff Writer David Chapman contributed to this report.
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