TUESDAY February 2, 2021
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
DEVELOPMENT
THE MATHIS REPORT
Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
JEA pauses design work on ‘hardened’ LaVilla facility
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JACKSONVILLE
PROPOSED HARDENED FACILITY
JEA planned to build a 40,000-square-foot facility in LaVilla to house its emergency operations center. The 2.27-acre property is bounded by Ashley, Johnson, Church and Duval streets. The site was to be the home for 200-220 JEA workers and supplement the $68 million headquarters under construction at 225 N. Pearl St. Downtown. The utilty is moving forward with plans to buy two parcels of land, in red, adjacent to the JEA Church Street Substation.
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The utility’s leadership says it may not need as much office space because some employees could work at home even after the pandemic ends. BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
JEA will pause plans to build a “hardened” secondary headquarters building in LaVilla as the municipal utility reevaluates its post-pandemic workplace. In a presentation to the JEA board of directors Jan. 28, CEO Jay Stowe and interim Chief Supply Chain Officer Alan McElroy said the analysis also
could impact the interior layout of its next Downtown corporate office tower. Despite the uncertainty, JEA leadership still intends to complete the $2.44 million Stowe purchase of a 2.27-acre property for the facility. The proposed 40,000-square-foot facility would house JEA’s emergency operations center and supplement the utility’s eight-story, $64 million to $68 million headquarters under construction at 225 N. Pearl St. Downtown. But JEA will halt plans for a design-build request for proposals as it refines a “return to work” model for utility employees currently working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stowe said.
“Part of what we’re trying to figure out is what the new headquarters looks like with new policies and procedures in place. I would expect to be able to make a better decision on that in the coming month,” Stowe said. WORKING AT HOME
Utility officials have engaged national real estate firm CBRE to analyze workplace staffing trends nationwide. McElroy told board members that could result in a hybrid model at JEA where many employees can work both from home and the office. “Depending on the outcome of this reevaluation of the different work models, our approach to the second hardened facility may be impacted,” McElroy said.
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
Amazon at Cecil Commerce Center is confirmed
The online retailer will lease a building for a sortation facility at AllianceFlorida. It’s no longer a secret that Amazon.com will open a sortation center at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center. Four days after City Council member Aaron Bowman said the Seattle-based online retailer would open there, AllianceFlorida master developer Hillwood also said Amazon.com will be a tenant Tatsch at Cecil Commerce Center. “I can confirm we have signed a lease with Amazon for that facility,” Hillwood Senior Vice President Dan Tatsch said Jan. 30. He said Hillwood targeted the third or fourth quarter of 2021 for completion of the almost 280,000-square-foot building,which will serve as a sortation center. Amazon.com says sortation centers are “midmile” delivery centers in which the company sorts customer orders by ZIP
SEE JEA, PAGE 2
SEE MATHIS, PAGE 2
Build-out permit for First Watch in Baymeadows The city issued a permit Jan. 25 for First Watch, The Daytime Cafe, to build-out in a shell structure in Baymeadows Park. TWT Restaurant Design, Construction & Development Co. of Tampa is the contractor for the $370,000 project to build-out the stand-alone 3,600-square-foot restaurant at 9271 Baymeadows Road, east of Interstate 95. Tim Young Construction Inc. built the shell building at a cost of $644,955. The new First Watch is within the Baymeadows Park development at the former Baymeadows Golf Club. Already open is a Starbucks Coffee Co. shop.
VOLUME 108, NO. 54 • ONE SECTION