TUESDAY September 17, 2019
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
DEVELOPMENT
New signs planned for Southbank
Daily Record
Conceptual plans for JEA HQ add office space, show rooftop terrace
JACKSONVILLE
Plans for the JEA headquarters at 325 W. Adams St. include office space, a parking garage and open and pedestrian space.
Ameris Bank, SoBA apartments seeking special exceptions.
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EDITOR
JACKSONVILLE
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Uses for “open urban space” not defined in plans submitted for Downtown Development Review Board for consideration. BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
Conceptual designs for JEA’s proposed Downtown headquarters released Friday include a rooftop terrace and 8,500 square feet of street-level retail space. The Downtown Development Review Board will review the new building specifications by developer Ryan Companies US Inc. on Thursday Ryan asks for preliminary approval. The designs show a 10,000-squarefoot increase in rentable square feet up to 200,000 from the estimate of 190,000 square feet given to the Downtown Investment Authority on Aug. 23.
BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS
The office building has a total of 220,000 square feet, according to a DDRB summary. JEA, Jacksonville’s public electric and water utility, proposes to lease the ninestory office building at 325 W. Adams St. from Ryan. The $72.2 million headquarters will sit on one city block, bounded by Adams, Monroe, Pearl and Julia streets. The proposed nine-level, 850-space parking garage will house the development’s retail component, facing North Julia Street. The development plan also calls for 4,900 square feet of open and pedestrian space. Uses for the “open urban space” — which has a 20-foot setback from the pedestrian zone — or the rooftop patio are not defined in Ryan’s plans submitted to the DDRB. It’s one of the clarifications the board’s staff seeks from the developer. The building exterior shows metal
Ameris Bank and the SoBA apartments want to put up new signs on their Downtown Southbank buildings. Ameris wants to put signs on all four sides of the 28-story riverfront tower it anchors at 1301 Riverplace Blvd. SoBA wants to put up a blade – vertical – sign on its 1444 Home St. apartment building. They ask for special sign exceptions in the Commercial Central Business District. The Downtown Development Review Board scheduled both requests among the action items it will hear at its meeting Thursday. The meeting is scheduled at 2 p.m. in the eighth-floor boardroom at the Ed Ball Building at 214 N. Hogan St. Ameris Bank wants to replace its two signs on the north and south
paneling and glass, referred to in the DDRB documents as a “glazing system.”
SEE SIGNS, PAGE 2
WHAT’S IN THE REVIEW?
DDRB staff members recommend that the board approve the conceptual design of the JEA headquarters, but they’re looking for a few changes to the final design. Ryan’s JEA project is the second to be evaluated under new Downtown design standards approved by City Council in June. The standards are intended to bring uniformity to Downtown designs and make street-level retail a higher priority to “support civic life,” according to DDRB documents. Reviewers said the tower does include “a variety of textures, forms and elements with the architectural composition” of the building, but staff wants those features to be more defined so they can pass SEE JEA, PAGE 2
Images special to the Daily Record
Artist renderings of the new Ameris Bank signs atop Riverplace Tower and the projecting sign sought by SoBA apartments.
Wawa targets Baymeadows location Wawa Inc. is keyed in on a Baymeadows site for a gas station and convenience store in its quest to develop at least 30 locations in Northeast Florida. Developer Brightwork Real Estate Inc. of Tampa wants to develop a Wawa store at southeast Baymeadows Road and Baymeadows Way, near Interstate 95. Brightwork intends to buy 6.2 acres from landowner David Hammers. The St. Johns River Water Management District is reviewing an application for the project, a 6,119-square-foot gas station and convenience store on about 3 acres.
VOLUME 106, NO. 213 • ONE SECTION