Ryan Companies US Inc. Senior Project Manager Mike Harryman said to expect barricades and fencing to be in place around JEA’s next Downtown corporate headquarters site no later than next week and construction will “begin in earnest” within the next month.
Harryman gave an update on the $64 million to $68 million project July 14 during Downtown Vision Inc.’s quarterly stakeholder meeting. Ryan serves as the developer and landlord on the project.
Harryman said construction at 225 N. Pearl St. will include eight weeks of deep foundation pile driving for the seven-story public utility’s headquarters and adjacent eight-level parking garage.
The site previously was referred to as 325 W. Adams St.
Pile driving will not begin until site demolition and striping is complete, which Harryman said will start the first full week in August and take about one week.
The Ryan representative said workers will need three weeks to complete pile driving for the headquarters building and another five weeks for the garage.
“(Pile driving) will go early in construction. It may not be contiguous, but over the first one to four months we’re going to be putting in deep foundations for an eight-week period in that time,” Harryman said.
Harryman said the construction will close one city block to traffic on West Monroe Street from North Pearl Street to North Julia Street, and the southbound lane on North Julia Street also will close.
“The lane closures to start will be fairly modest, and, frankly, I don’t think we anticipate closing too much more throughout the construction,” Harryman said. “Our goal is to minimize traffic impact and have the space and logistics required to build the project.”
Responding to a question from Steve Kelley, the Downtown Investment Authority’s real estate and development director, Harryman said building and materials costs for large-scale construction have not increased despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harryman said Ryan is repricing the JEA headquarters because quotes were made before the COVID-19’s onset, but he expects costs to remain roughly the same as it was in January through March.
“Pricing has stayed flat, but market interest is stronger. If price is going to be driven down at all, it’s going to be by competition than, in my opinion, market pricing of commodities like steel,” Harryman said.
Ryan secured a $62.9 million construction loan June 29 from Wells Fargo Bank for the project.
Ryan originally planned to break ground in September and complete the building in early 2022. Harryman told DVI stakeholders the JEA building’s core shell likely will be substantially complete by the fourth quarter 2021 and interior build-out and JEA tenant improvements will go into 2022.
JEA’s headquarters will include about 153,000 square feet of rentable space and a 640-space parking garage. Harryman said July 14 that the number of parking spaces could increase to 650 after the final garage design is complete.
JEA contracted with the CBRE real estate firm to help negotiate the deal with Ryan.
The JEA board of directors approved a renegotiated lease with Ryan on May 21 to build a scaled-back corporate campus, reduced from a $78 million, nine-story, 196,000-square-foot office building approved last year.
Ryan will build the headquarters and lease it to the city-owned utility. The board also voted unanimously to extend the lease agreement from 15 to 20 years.
Documents show the smaller headquarters and amended lease agreement will reduce JEA’s gross rent cost by $27 million over the life of the lease.
JEA officials expect the smaller headquarters option will save the city-owned utility $19 million to $35 million in operational costs from its existing 360,000-square-foot, 19-story tower and campus at 21 W. Church St. built in 1962.
JEA board Vice Chair Bobby Stein, interim CEO Paul McElroy and utility procurement staff are working with CBRE Jacksonville to find a site for a 40,000-square-foot “hardened” facility for an emergency operations center resilient to flooding and severe weather.
Stein said during the board’s June 23 meeting that JEA is working with DIA staff to find a site for the second facility.
