Downtown Vision Inc.’s board of directors unanimously decided Wednesday that the Duval County Courthouse and the City Hall Annex along East Bay Street should be demolished as soon as the new courthouse is occupied.
Building a new convention center on the 8.5 acres of City-owned riverfront property emerged as the most favorable use for the site.
The more than 50-year-old government buildings were the topic of discussion Wednesday at the monthly meeting of the DVI board.
What to do with the property has been a question since construction of the Duval County Unified Courthouse Facility in LaVilla was approved.
Board member Dan King, general manager of the Hyatt Downtown, said the Hyatt’s ownership had engaged architects related to a convention center and that a plan was presented to former Mayor John Peyton and to the Jacksonville Civic Council.
The Hyatt is next to the buildings.
The civic council published a report supporting a convention center adjacent to the Hyatt.
“There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that has gone on,” said King.
City Council member Don Redman, an ex-officio member of the DVI board, said that allowing the government buildings to remain in place after they are vacated in May would create an ongoing expense.
He said demolition would have to be proposed by Mayor Alvin Brown and approved by the Council.
DVI board member John Welch said the property represents a valuable development opportunity that must not be squandered.
“There will be a lot of hungry eyes on that property,” said Welch, a former chair of the Urban Land Institute North Florida group.
King said he thinks the board would “clearly want to advocate for dropping those buildings.” The cleared property could be used as a park until a public-private partnership could be formed for development.
DVI Executive Director Terry Lorince said she met with Jerry Mallot and Don Shea concerning DVI’s role in the proposed Downtown development authority proposed by the Brown administration.
Mallot is president of JAXUSA Partnership of the JAX Chamber. Shea is executive director of the civic council. Both are executives on loan to Brown’s administration.
Lorince said she also has met with Brown to discuss the topic and described both meetings as “cordial” but without commitments from the administration.
Welch said that since Brown took office seven months ago, “we haven’t seen anything specific.”
“We don’t want to wait for an announcement. We should be part of the planning,” he said.
“He’s very secretive,” Redman said of Brown, based on Council’s experience with the administration.
“When he’s ready for approval, he tells us what his plans are,” Redman said.
Board member Chris Flagg described the development of the proposed Downtown development agency “like forming a planet.”
“Right now, it’s a lot of circulating gas that hasn’t begun to coagulate,” he said.
The board also congratulated Downtown Ambassador Mike Ryan, who received the “Recognition of Service Excellence” award this week in the Customer Service-Tourism Ambassador category from the North Florida Hotel & Lodging Association.
Ryan has been an ambassador for nearly four years.
“It’s a great job. I love every minute of it,” he said.
King, a past president of the association, said there are more than 50,000 people employed in the hospitality industry in North Florida and 156 were nominated this year for a ROSE Award.
Twenty-six people accepted their awards Wednesday.
“To be nominated is a career accomplishment. To win is a career milestone,” he said.
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