“We are released to start spending money,” was developer Peter Rummell’s response Tuesday after the sale price of the former Southside Generating Station property was approved by JEA’s board of directors.
Elements Development of Jacksonville LLC, comprising Rummell and project partner Michael Balanky, will purchase 28.6 acres of the Downtown Southbank riverfront site for $650,000 per acre, a total sale of $18.6 million.
“This is the end of a very long journey,” said Balanky.
He and Rummell have been working on the project for nearly two years. Balanky characterized the board’s approval of the purchase price as “anticlimactic.”
Elements plans to build a mixed-use residential and retail project on the site, currently called “Healthy Town.” Elements in October was chosen over one other group by the board to purchase and develop the property. Rummell and Balanky have up to a year to secure permits, zoning and development agreements from the city.
“There are multiple layers. It’s a process you have to go through,” Rummell said. “If everything goes the way we hope, we will break ground this fall.”
While the terms of the sale were the same as approved in October, one part of the project is likely to change, according to the developers.
An agreement approved by JEA, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Duval County Public Schools — a land swap to allow access to the site from Prudential Drive — could be amended in favor of a better design.
“We think there is a way to make it more efficient,” Balanky said. “Nobody was in love with that solution,” said Rummell.
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