The Northeast Florida Builders Association submitted a permit application for its new headquarters office building in Southpoint.
NEFBA expects to choose a contractor this month. Kasper Architecture and Development is the architect.
The almost 10,300-square-foot, single-story building is planned on 3.9 acres at 6747 Southpoint Parkway. It includes 1,115 square feet of unenclosed space.
Executive Officer Corey Deal said groundbreaking and a final budget will be determined when the general contractor is chosen. No completion date has been nailed down.
The permit application shows an estimated $1.1 million construction cost.
The association bought the vacant parcel north along Southpoint Parkway in April for $440,000. The site is about a quarter-mile east of Salisbury Road.
Deal said the building will comprise offices for the NEFBA programs and staff, its Builders Care charitable arm and the apprenticeship program. It also will have conference rooms and a multi-use auditorium for meetings and events.
The patio and outdoor meeting space will help with events like the October “Beast Feast” political gathering. This year’s event, which changed date because of Hurricane Matthew, still drew more than 230 participants.
NEFBA, Builders Care and the Apprenticeship Program lease about 12,000 square feet in different spaces at 103 Century 21 Drive, where the association has operated for 23 years.
Deal said about 1,250 companies are members of the trade organization.
NEFBA 2009 President Glenn Layton, of Glenn Layton Homes, chaired a building committee of 11 members appointed in February 2014 to handle the project.
Layton’s group and the seven-member NEFBA executive committee will choose a general contractor. Invitations to bid have been sent and are due back in mid-November, Deal said.
Because membership covers eight counties, with a concentration in Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns, the location needed to be more central than the current site.
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466