JACKSONVILLE, Fla — People spent more than a decade waiting to see the Berkman Plaza II come down. Now there are talks about what will go up in its place.
New renderings of what’s possible show a 40-story tall building towering over its neighbor, the Berkman I.
Our news partners at The Florida Times Union got their hands on the renderings.
The renderings from KBJ architects show a 550-foot tall condominium complex with 40 stories. There's also a vision for a rooftop green space and pool at the lower level.
If this comes to fruition, the Berkman Plaza II would tower over the Berkman I and most of the downtown area as well. The new proposal is almost twice as tall as the previous renderings from last August.
But first, they have to take care of the rubble. Shipping containers should be removed by now. The next step is breaking down the big slabs of concrete.
"It looks daunting, it looks like, like a lot of big chunks of concrete, which it is, but we have specialized excavators that have what are called Concrete pulverizers on hand," said Steve Pece, President of Pece of Mind.
They're in charge of the demolition.
"These are special hydraulic basically crunchers is a good layman's term, that will actually crunch the concrete up into smaller pieces, and remove the rebar with the cabling that's in there."
The cleanup crew has 60 days to clear the site. As for the new vision, we are working to see if they have a timeline for that.
We know the people of Jacksonville do not want to see a repeat of the Berkman II, standing in the city skyline, abandoned and dangerous.
The building had been vacant after a parking garage collapse in December 2007 left one man, 26-year-old Willie Edwards III, dead and many others injured.
After years of changes of ownership, legal controversy and delays in the building's demolition, Mayor Lenny Curry, Councilman Richard Gaffney and the daughters of the owner of Pece of Mind ceremoniously pressed the plunger then watched as the building came down.
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