JEA’s former headquarters in Downtown is closer to being renovated into a mixed-use residential property after the city-owned utility’s board voted Feb. 24 to sell it to a Jacksonville-based developer.
With a 6-0 vote on Feb. 24, the seven-member board approved the sale of the three-building property for $1 million to Live Oak Contracting. Live Oak plans to purchase the 2.47-acre property through The Jewel at 21 West LLC.
Board member MG Orender declined to vote, citing a conflict of interest with his son, Jacob Orender. Jacob Orender is an employee at Live Oak, MG Orender said.
With board approval, JEA will seek City Council approval to sell the property.
Live Oak plans to develop the property into The Jewel at 21 West, it announced in a September 2025 release. Plans include converting the office building into 180 residential units with rooftop amenities, office space and ground-floor uses.
Live Oak contributed $100,000 of its $1 million bid in earnest money, though it can recoup those funds during a 365-day inspection period.
Live Oak was one of two bidders for the facilities at 21 W. Church St., 421 Laura St. and 21 E. Church St. Simple State, based in Jacksonville Beach, placed a $0 bid.
The property is valued at $14.98 million, according to a formal appraisal in 2025. The Duval County Property Appraiser lists the property at $29.97 million. A 2016 study from Fairlead Commercial Real Estate; Haskell; and England, Thims & Miller placed renovation costs between $65 million and $78 million.
According to a memo presented to the board, costs to maintain the buildings totaled $3.71 million from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2025. Those costs included security, utilities, landscaping, janitorial services, pest control and corrective and preventive maintenance.
The project
The campus comprises:
• The 347,811-square-foot office tower. The structure opened in the early 1960s as the Universal Marion building and was topped by a revolving restaurant.
• The former customer service center, a 248,220-square-foot, six-story office building also built in the early 1960s.
• The Adair Building, a parking garage at 421 Laura St. with more than 500 spaces. The building includes street-level retail space.
• A below-grade parking deck with about 190 spaces. Those spaces were shared by the headquarters tower and customer center.
JEA moved out of the old headquarters in 2023 and into its seven-story structure at 225 N. Pearl St. JEA and developer Ryan Companies US broke ground on the new headquarters in 2020 after three years of planning. Its cost was estimated at $100 million. JEA leases the building, which was sold to Real Capital Solutions for almost $95 million in 2022.
Bid financing
Live Oak’s bid did not contain an estimated project cost for its office-to-residential conversion of the property. The bid did include a breakdown of the project’s capital stack, including 65% in debt, 20% in private equity and 15% in public funding, such as incentives and tax credits.
Live Oak said the project would create 300 construction jobs and more than 100 jobs upon completion, while increasing the city’s taxable value.
In a Feb. 12 presentation to the Council Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, Downtown Investment Authority CEO Colin Tarbert said the DIA estimated a $19 million completion grant would be needed for the project.
Simple State deal
Simple State Inc. offered nothing for the building, instead saying “the true value of this transaction lies not in a cash payment for an aging asset, but in a strategic public-private partnership.”
“Our plan immediately removes a significant and costly liability from JEA’s balance sheet, eliminating its status as a going concern,” the bid stated. “In exchange, our team assumes the full financial and operational burden of this complex redevelopment, including all costs associated with environmental remediation, asbestos abatement, extensive retrofitting, and new construction.”
Simple State Inc. is led by Marc Kozman, a property owner and developer. It proposed to redevelop the property as The Commons at City Square, with 177 workforce housing units and such features as a rooftop restaurant, a charter school, startup incubator, wellness and fitness center and an “experiential zone” with tenants that could include a creative arts studio, digital golf simulator or bowling and billiards hall.