JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — JEA is putting its former headquarters campus up for sale including the 19-story tower topped by a disc-shaped room that used to be a rotating restaurant called The Embers.
The passage of time has long since extinguished The Embers and that part of the building no longer revolves, but it still offers some birds-eye views of downtown.
At some point, the JEA logo on the Church Street building will come down, just as other tall buildings like the former Wells Fargo Tower have had their names removed in the changing downtown skyline.
The JEA board voted Tuesday to declare the complex of buildings and parking along Church Street as surplus property. That clears the way for JEA to seek a buyer for the building, which the Jacksonville Historical Society has called one of the most endangered in Jacksonville because the longer it's vacant, the greater the chances become for demolition.
What is the history of the buildings?
The 19-story building was the tallest on the Northbank of downtown when it was built in 1963, according to the Jacksonville Historical Society. The building's first major tenant was Universal Marion Company of Miami and it had retail on two bottom floors for Ivey's Department Store.
JEA moved into the buildings in the late 1980s and occupied them until 2023 when the utility moved its staff and operations a few blocks away to a new headquarters near the Duval County Courthouse.
Are the buildings architecturally significant?
The Jacksonville Historical Society calls the old JEA tower "one of the masterpieces" of downtown Jacksonville's Mid-Century Modern Architecture. "The building's distinctive hexagonal 'honeycomb' windows make it highly recognizable on the city's skyline," the historical society said in its list of the city's most endangered historic buildings.
What is JEA's asking price?
The JEA board's declaration of surplus property didn't set an asking price for the 2.47-acre tract containing two tall buildings and a parking garage.
If the utility staff can strike a deal with a buyer, the terms of the sale would come back to the JEA board for final approval.
JEA is leaving open what kind of use the buildings might have under new ownership.
Why did JEA move out of the Church Street campus?
The utility decided the cost of needed repairs, maintenance and renovation would be so high that it made financial sense to start fresh with a new headquarters in a building that JEA is leasing.
The repairs needed will be a factor in how much interest JEA gets for the property. The downtown office market also has a high vacancy rate so JEA will be competing with other building owners trying to fill their space.