By Carole Hawkins, [email protected]
The Northeast Florida Builders Association could soon have a new home.
The group has placed a 3.91-acre parcel at the Southpoint office park under contract for a new headquarters.
The $440,000 sale is expected to close in early April, barring any problems found during due diligence.
NEFBA has had its office on Century 21 Drive near Regency Square Mall since 1993.
The new site is more centrally located, NEFBA President Chet Skinner said. It’s also big enough to accommodate growth.
When NEFBA established its current headquarters, Jacksonville was the hub of new homebuilding, Skinner said. Today, more building has spread into Nassau, St. Johns and Clay counties. NEFBA councils in those areas are growing.
“This (new location) is accessible to our builders and all of our trade partners,” Skinner said of the site near Interstate 95 and Butler Boulevard.
Not only is NEFBA’s footprint shifting, the organization as a whole is growing.
Last year, the association expanded its ranks by 174 members, becoming the fifth-largest builders association in the nation. It was the fastest growth rate of any large builders association in 2015.
The new site would allow NEFBA to house its staff and its offices for Builders Care, the group’s charitable giving arm, Skinner said.
Moving NEFBA’s headquarters is a project that has been in the planning for two years, stretching across the tenure of three association presidents.
Former president Daniel Blanchard appointed the 11-member site selection committee in 2014.
NEFBA studied about 25 sites and put in two or three offers before securing the Southpoint property, 2015 president Rick Morales said.
The search took the selection committee to warehouses, old buildings and vacant land across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. Member surveys helped the committee decide whether to lease or buy.
“It’s exciting because we’ve been working on this for so long,” Morales said.
Committee chairman Layton said due diligence was moving along in a positive direction. The next phase after that would be to assemble a building committee.
Hopefully the new headquarters will take the 71-year-old association another 25 years into the future, Layton said.