JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Schools is once again considering a move away from its headquarters on the St. Johns River after a potential buyer withdrew from the deal as the school district now has a new front-runner interested in purchasing the Southbank property.
Fleet Landing, the previous buyer, officially backed out of the negotiations, leaving Chase Properties as the leading candidate to buy the district’s current headquarters. Meanwhile, the district is still focused on acquiring a new building in the Baymeadows area.
Two important decisions are expected from the Duval County School Board on Tuesday.
- Whether to sell the district headquarters to Chase Properties for $17.2 million.
- Whether to purchase the Dream Finders building on Prominence Parkway off Baymeadows for $13.65 million.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: DCPS unanimously votes not to sell current administration building; also rejects purchase of Prominence Parkway property | DCPS headquarters staying by St. Johns River for now; district is exploring ‘alternative relocation options’
Duval County Schools Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said he as put forth a recommendation to sell the current building and purchase another one, but will leave the decision up to the board.
District 7 School Board Member Melody Bolduc supports keeping the school district headquarters within her district.
“There is no other building that we’ve been offered or that we have looked at in the inner core area that we could move in for that price,” she explained. “Even one of the buildings that was offered to us for free would cost more than the price of purchase of this very updated building in order just to renovate it.”
The proposed purchase price for the Dream Finders building is $13.65 million, which includes $650,000 for personal property such as office furniture. The building itself is valued at $13 million.
District 5 School Board Member Reginald Blount expressed some concerns about the sale process.
“I have some questions about the closing, the time frame...we’ll just have to see what happens,” he said.
There is also a potential issue with the closing timeline for the Prominence Parkway property.
If the closing extends beyond six months, the district would owe Dream Finders $100,000 per month.
“Prominence Parkway, they don’t want to hold the property for a year or 440 days,” Blount explained. “So we’re just working through that, and we’ll see what happens.”
When asked about Fleet Landing’s decision to back out, CEO Josh Ashby said in a statement, “After the School Board declined our proposal, we were approached by several parties who shared our enthusiasm for the concept we presented. After those discussions, we decided to focus our efforts on these new opportunities.”
Attempts to reach Board Chair Charlotte Joyce for comment were unsuccessful.
The school board is expected to discuss these items in their upcoming meeting on Tuesday. News4JAX will be at the meeting and provide updates as the situation develops.