DCPS is contemplating relocating from Downtown to a constructing in Baymeadows presently leased to Southeastern Grocers.
Duval County Public Colleges has had its headquarters within the six-story, 120,000-square-foot administrative constructing rising above the Downtown Southbank waterfront since 1981. The constructing gave the district house for its staff and neighborhood conferences, and its centralized location made it simply accessible to Duval households. On the identical time, the waterfront constructing and its sprawling floor car parking zone grew to become seen as prime for redevelopment. The College Board checked out promoting the property and relocating a number of instances, most just lately in 2021.
As The Jaxson wrote on the time, that push raised a number of critical points. Specifically, if DCPS have been to go away Downtown for a suburban location, it will deal a blow to Downtown’s vibrancy whereas additionally making accessibility troublesome for Jacksonville households and failing to benefit from the windfall from the sale. Such issues contributed to the College Board’s determination to not transfer ahead with the prospect on the time. Sadly, all these issues stay current within the present push.
Shedding Duval Colleges’ roughly 900 staff can be a serious setback for Downtown, particularly at a time when many companies have already shuttered or lowered their workplace presence as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and shifting office applied sciences.
The pattern of employers leaving the town core is already clear. In March, the taxpayer-financed Residents Property Insurance coverage Company introduced plans to relocate 1,038 jobs from Downtown to Baymeadows. Simply two weeks in the past, Regency Facilities revealed it will transfer its headquarters, and 250 jobs, from Downtown to Seven Pines.
A call by DCPS to go away would instantly contradict the town’s personal efforts to revitalize Downtown. Native leaders have made it clear: bringing and holding employers within the city core is important to reviving Jacksonville’s struggling heart. The Metropolis just lately donated 22 acres in LaVilla to pave the best way for the College of Florida’s new graduate campus. It additionally authorised practically $100 million in incentives for the primary section of Gateway Jax’s $2 billion Pearl Avenue District, and dedicated a further $4.35 million to safe Haskell’s headquarters relocation and 650 staff to the Southbank.
These strikes are a part of a broader technique to strengthen Downtown’s workforce and spark new development. For a neighborhood authorities entity like DCPS to then pull tons of of staff out of Downtown would undermine that momentum. On the finish of the day, the lack of all these jobs from the town core, particularly by an company funded with taxpayer {dollars}, represents a critical blow to revitalization efforts.
The College Board now faces a pivotal alternative: strengthen Downtown’s resurgence or contribute to its decline. Staying put gives a once-in-a-generation alternative to be a cornerstone of the town’s long-awaited regrowth. Leaving would reinforce a troubling sample of public establishments making selections that run instantly counter to Jacksonville’s said precedence of Downtown revitalization.
It’s unhealthy sufficient {that a} authorities entity is even contemplating abandoning the town’s heart to relocate nearer to northern St. Johns County than the middle of the very neighborhood it’s purported to serve. The transfer additionally raises purple flags about fiscal duty to Duval County taxpayers.
DCPS expects to promote its 1701 Prudential Drive for $20 million and purchase 8928 Prominence Parkway for $14 million. Nevertheless, the College Board would solely obtain $12.5 million for its sale at closing, with the remaining $7.5 million not coming for one more three years. That implies that quite than receiving a windfall for the sale out the gate, DCPS can be $1.5 million in need of the worth of the brand new constructing for years.
The present constructing was inbuilt 1981 and is 122,822 sq. toes, with assembly house and amenities for College Board enterprise. Alternatively, 8928 Prominence Parkway 163,245 sq. toes and has no such amenities — it could have been retrofitted in 2015 for Southeastern Grocers’ company wants, however it’s removed from prepared for a public faculty district headquarters. There’s no everlasting auditorium for conferences, solely a cafeteria, and the foyer would require reconfiguration to satisfy fundamental safety requirements. The tens of millions of {dollars} in work it will take simply to open its doorways comes on high of the acquisition value. However right here’s the obvious query: why pay $14 million for a constructing that’s a lot bigger than crucial, and one that also isn’t match for public use?
The deal isn’t just shortsighted, it’s probably expensive. It might strip practically $200,000 a yr from the tax rolls.
It’s time to take a broader, much less siloed method to this determination, one the place public entities transfer in the identical path, profiting from each tax greenback.
One various is straightforward: financial institution the sale proceeds or reinvest them into modernizing current amenities. Leasing house, as a substitute of shopping for one other outsized constructing miles from the core, would protect property tax income and maintain the district’s assets aligned with its mission.
Another choice is much more promising: DCPS may stay in its present location as a tenant in a brand new growth, occupying a smaller, extra environment friendly footprint whereas nonetheless promoting nearly all of its property and getting it again on the tax rolls. This technique would maintain the district centrally positioned and accessible to households, whereas probably producing extra income for the district. On the identical time, it will strengthen the Southbank’s ongoing revitalization by anchoring new funding.
At a second when Jacksonville is combating to revive life to its city core, it will be indefensible for DCPS, funded by the general public, to undermine that momentum whereas additionally creating burdens for taxpayers. The board’s alternative is obvious: assist drive the town ahead, or fall again into the identical short-sighted pondering that has drained vitality from Downtown for many years.
Editorial by The Jaxson Journal