JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Developers working on the Laura Street Trio project told a special committee on Monday that they’re done working with the Downtown Investment Authority, and if negotiations on reconstruction of the historic buildings continue to fail, they would consider selling the property to the City of Jacksonville.
Developers of the Laura Street Trio have presented a multi-million dollar plan to turn the historic buildings into a mixed-use commercial residential development, which would include apartments, a hotel and retail space.
Steve Atkins has owned the Laura Street Trio buildings since 2013.
“Everything we’ve been asked to do we’ve done, and frankly, I’m getting tired of working with the City of Jacksonville, and certainly for this project. I have been working on it for years, and have done everything that I could do to make it happen. I have invested millions of dollars out of my own pocket," Steve Atkins, principal and managing director of SouthEast Group, said.
Speaking to the Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, Atkins said the historic buildings have sat empty because of unsuccessful negotiations with the Downtown Investment Authority. Now, he says he’s done working with the DIA.
“I’ll either sit and wait until we can do a deal with the city, or if the city wants to buy me out, they can do that," Atkins said.
This comes after a July meeting where the DIA voted to end negotiations with Atkins. But CEO Lori Boyer says the proposal Atkins put forth had high up-front costs, she believed it wasn’t in the best interest for the city, and she was told it was a final proposal which led to her decision to end those negotiations.
“The DIA resolution does not say that we won’t negotiate further. The DIA resolution says without an infusion of equity or a different term. And in fact, Mr. Atkins or the Southeast's last proposal to us said it was the final offer. So we were responding to a final offer in our action as the board," Lori Boyer, CEO Downtown Investment Authority.
Going forward, members of the Special Committee on the Future of Downtown asked the developer to come with a price for selling the building to the city.
“What we don’t want to see is this building sit for another 5-10 years so if the developer is not interested in working with DIA or the city of Jacksonville, he doesn’t want to budge on those numbers, we might need to look into selling it to another developer," Reggie Gaffney Jr, members of the Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, said.
The committee is also asking the city’s office of general counsel if it’s possible to bring in outside negotiators to help with future conversations between DIA and Atkins should they wish to continue talks.
