A divided Duval County School board voted Nov. 4 to sell its headquarters along the Downtown Southbank and buy a building in Baymeadows that will become the district’s new administrative home.
In a 4-3 vote, the board approved selling its riverfront building at 1701 Prudential Drive to Chase Properties Inc. for $17.2 million.
Board Chair Charlotte Joyce, Vice Chair April Carney and board members Reginald Blount and Melody Bolduc voted in favor. Board members Cynthia Pearson, Anthony Ricardo and Darryl Willie voted no.
The vote on the proposal to purchase the building at 8928 Prominence Parkway in Baymeadows for $13.65 million fell along the same split, with Joyce, Carney, Blount and Bolduc in favor and Pearson, Ricardo and Willie against.
Carney called for the vote after about an hour of discussion of topics that already were covered at the board’s Oct. 7 meeting when a proposal to sell the 1701 Prudential Drive property to retirement community developer Fleet Landing and purchase the building in Baymeadows were both unanimously rejected.
Concerns included establishing the new Duval County Public Schools headquarters outside of the urban core and its possible lack of easy access for the public compared with the Downtown location.
Other concerns involved the timeline for closing the sale with Chase – 455 days with a possible six-month extension.
Carney said Schools Superintendent Christopher Bernier, Trinity Commercial Group’s Dan O’Berski, the district’s real estate consultant, and the board began the sale and purchase process in April.
“We have discussed this long enough,” she said.
Carney advised the board that if the proposals were again voted down, the building would be taken off the market and, “We will start over from square one.”
The Baymeadows building is the former headquarters of Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Winn-Dixie and Harveys. It is at Baymeadows Road and Interstate 95 about 9.1 miles south of the DCPS Southbank headquarters. The building is owned by a division of Dream Finders Homes.
Chase plans to demolish the DCPS building and build a riverfront high-rise with 300 condominiums, 300 apartments and 200,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
“This is an incredible honor,” said Michael Balanky, CEO of Chase Properties, in a statement after the vote. “Our entire team is grateful for the confidence placed in us by the School Board, Superintendent and the community.”
“This site represents the true gateway to downtown Jacksonville, and we are committed to creating a world-class development that enhances the skyline, strengthens our economy, and reflects the pride of this city,” he said.
Decades in the works
The agreements mark the end of a 20-year effort to move the schools’ HQ out of its now 45-year-old Class B building along the St. Johns River into more modern office space.
The school board determined that moving out of the Prudential Drive offices would result in reduced maintenance costs, utility costs and liabilities associated with an older structure.
DCPS began considering selling its current administration building 2005. A 2021 effort generated 16 bids but ultimately did not result in a sale.
In September 2024, the district issued an invitation to negotiate seeking proposals from commercial real estate firms. After interviewing several candidates, the district selected South Florida-based Trinity Commercial Group to manage its real estate transactions.
As part of the headquarters sale process, TCG received offers from 10 groups. Among them, Fleet Landing submitted a $20 million proposal to purchase the property and develop it into a retirement community.
Fleet Landing was to pay $12.5 million at closing and the remaining $7.5 million three years after closing, terms that some board members said they could not support.
Another issue was whether a nonprofit building a high-rise retirement community on some of the last remaining Downtown riverfront real estate would be the best use of the site.
Chase enters
On Oct. 5, Chase submitted a proposal to the school board that Balanky described as a “visionary development plan” for the Prudential Drive property.
The plan for the condos, apartments and commercial uses was developed by Balanky. Sleiman Enterprises President and CEO Toney Sleiman and Steven Suddath, chairman of the board of Suddath Companies.
The proposal cited the partners’ decades of experience in redevelopment and mixed-use, retail and high-rise projects.
The mixed-use development concept would bring luxury condominiums combined with hospitality, retail, restaurants and entertainment, most of which will be open to the public and will contribute significantly to Jacksonville’s ad valorem tax base. Such projects bring new residents, corporate tenants and tourists into the city core, spurring surrounding development, the proposal said.
“This has been a passion project for years,” Balanky said. “I first began pursuing this site nearly two decades ago, envisioning it as a catalyst for connecting the Southbank’s major assets — the Riverwalk, Baptist Health, the JEA campus, and the Kings Avenue Station. Our team’s deep local roots and long-term commitment to Jacksonville give us the perspective and staying power to make this project something truly special.”