JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville City Council met for a workshop to discuss details of a potential land deal for the University of Florida’s graduate campus.
Since the council did not meet quorum at the Monday meeting, members did not move forward with voting on the future of the land swap that would explore acquiring the Interline Brands building at 801 West Bay Street for the new campus.
The building is currently owned by the developer, Gateway Jax. The two main options include the city exchanging the riverfront property with Gateway Jax and a direct purchase of the building.
Councilmembers will also discuss putting aside 8 million dollars to allow the CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority to facilitate a real estate purchase that can’t exceed 4 million dollars.
Councilman Nick Howland also proposed a third option that would suggest the city purchase the building and offer Gateway Jax a right of refusal on two city-owned riverfront parcels.
This would mean Gateway Jax would have the chance to match the most attractive offer, making sure that taxpayers get the best value.
Cameron Hooper and Scott Wholers were the two DIA board members who voted no on the land swap deal. They spoke at the meeting.
“I think it’s important that we hear from them as to why they voted no,” Miller said.
Councilman Chris Miller considered Hooper and Wohlers experts in financial resources that are used to purchase land.
Hooper shared that he felt the board didn’t receive enough information.
“The renderings are beautiful,” Hooper said. “Everything’s beautiful, but we’ve seen that play before, and so I simply wanted to see the numbers. And for a city in which we have taxpayers, we need to hold our developers accountable.”
Wohlers shared that the board wasn’t offered another option outside of a land swap; he felt there was a better option they could consider.
“The economical thing that made sense to me at that point in time was the direct purchase of the property to ensure that UF gets here,” Wohlers said.
Councilman Matt Carlucci also shared his perspective, stating that he liked the benefits of the land swap.
“It’s a package, and usually, package deals are cheaper,” Carlucci said. “I think the longer that we wait on this with terms of the construction of the building, it’s only going to get more and more and more and more and more expensive.”
Councilman Nick Howland said that his priority is not on the riverfront property but ensuring that the UF graduate campus actually happens.
“Certain priorities should get more attention from city council. And to me, just the highest priority right now is getting that UF campus debated, litigated, approved in the best way for taxpayers we can,” Howland said.
The council considered moving forward in the coming weeks with either holding another meeting to take action on June 24 or doing floor amendments on June 10 and doing the committee work during the council meeting.
Council President Randy White was not interested in waiting until the end of the month for another decision-making session.
“We’ll be here at council night. I would just suggest you might bring your sleeping bags. We’ll get it done on that date,” White said.
