Owners of the historic Central Fire Station Building Downtown seek conceptual approval from the Downtown Development Review Board for adaptive reuse of the two-story structure at 39 E. Adams St.
Owners Farley and Paul Grainger propose to convert the almost 120-year-old, 9,600-square-foot building into a mixed-use development for a restaurant and office space.
Brooke Robbins of Robbins Design Studio is the applicant.
The 0.12-acre site is at northwest Adams and Ocean streets.
The Graingers propose restaurant space on the ground floor and office space on the second story.
The request explains the scope of work and includes complete core and shell exterior building repairs and code compliance upgrades, including a new roof, exterior facade repairs, door and window replacement, ADA compliance, egress upgrades, utility connections and new streetscape to complete with city standards.
Developers want to replace the roll-up and personnel doors.
The review board is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Main Library at 303 N. Laura St. and virtually by Zoom.
The review board staff supports conceptual approval with some recommendations that include streetscape details.
The structure, built after the Great Fire of 1901, was renovated in 1944. Those renovations are considered significant and protected under the landmark designation.
Review documents say it was built in 1902 and the Duval County Property Appraiser lists the date as 1903.
The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission said its main concerns are related to historic doors and windows that were preserved during a 1998 rehabilitation.
Its conditions include preserving four windows on Ocean Street.
A Jacksonville Planning and Development Department report for a Certificate of Appropriateness application also recommends approval with conditions, including the preservation of the historic windows.
The structure served as Downtown’s main firefighting center for almost 90 years until it was closed in the 1980s and the functions moved to North Liberty Street.
In 1998, the upstairs was converted into a residence with plans for commercial and office space on the ground floor.
The Graingers own the property through 39 Adams LLC. They bought the property for $700,000 in June 2019 from John VanPelt, who paid $600,000 for it in January 2014 and lived there with his teenage son.
The Graingers are partners in Iconic Real Estate Investments LLC.
