The Jacksonville City Council will sell a 1.52-acre West Adams Street property for a new JEA headquarters, despite the city-owned utility’s announcement Tuesday it could abandon its plan for the Downtown high-rise.
Council members approved the $2.6 million sale to developer Ryan Companies US Inc. Tuesday night in a 19-0 vote.
The decision came after the JEA board said it may abandon the project because of shrinking energy and water sales. The utility also is considering cutting 30% of its workforce and reducing capital projects.
JEA is considering expanding services to boost revenue, but says it would need City Charter and Florida law changes to do so.
The JEA board approved a lease agreement Tuesday with Ryan that includes a 90-day exit clause if the utility abandons the headquarters project.
If the deal fails, the city could get the land back. A provision included in bill 2019-401 would allow the city to repurchase the property if Ryan does not break ground on the $72.2 million headquarters by Dec. 31, 2020.
Even if the West Adams site is abandoned, JEA will still move to a new headquarters, but not Downtown. JEA officials said they would look for existing office space somewhere between Atlantic and Butler boulevards, west of St. Johns Bluff Road. That would require JEA to issue a request for proposals.
CEO and Managing Director Aaron Zahn said in an interview Tuesday that a move to the Southside would reduce costs, but inconvenience some customers.
“Now that would come in degradation of service quality because our customers depend on mass transit,” Zahn said. “So we have to think through those ramifications and you’d probably go just lease existing space and figure out how to handle that.”
Ryan proposed 207,810 square feet of office space with an attached 850-space parking garage. JEA would convert 100 additional parking spaces into electric vehicle charging stations.
The Downtown Investment Authority approved Ryan’s unsolicited bid for the property in May, which was $300,000 more than the appraised value.
JEA rejected two other prospective sites for the project in April: An office tower in Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s Lot J development near TIAA Bank Field and property on the Downtown Southbank next to the Kings Avenue parking garage.