Summer 2019
J Magazine, Summer 2019
J Magazine, Summer 2019
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“We don’t need a Sydney Opera House. But I do believe there<br />
is a role for architecture to play in government buildings.<br />
... I don’t want to add just another glass box Downtown.”<br />
Alan Howard<br />
JEA board chair during the headquarters-selection process<br />
LEFT: JEA’s current headquarters is located at<br />
21 W. Church St.<br />
RIGHT: A former JEA headquarters building at<br />
233 W. Duval St. has sat vacant for nearly 20 years.<br />
death knell for some already on the edge.<br />
Staying Downtown was important to<br />
the utility from the beginning, said Alan<br />
Howard, who was board chair during the<br />
headquarters-selection process.<br />
“The staff and board analyses both<br />
agreed that the invitation to negotiate<br />
should include, as a criteria, a Downtown<br />
location,” he said.<br />
Two of the three bidders to make the<br />
shortlist met that benchmark: the West<br />
Adams Street location and a Shad Khan-led<br />
effort in a planned $500 million development<br />
in Lot J near TIAA Bank Field.<br />
Howard said the strength of the bid<br />
from a third team, which included respected<br />
Jacksonville developer Mike Balanky,<br />
deserved to be a finalist despite the site at<br />
the Kings Avenue Station being just outside<br />
DIA’s boundaries.<br />
Not choosing Khan’s project quickly<br />
silenced the conspiracy theorists who<br />
believed that a fix was in and the JEA board<br />
would kowtow to pressure from City Hall<br />
to select the proposal from the Jacksonville<br />
Jaguars owner.<br />
The two sites that were not chosen definitely<br />
would have benefited by landing JEA’s<br />
headquarters, but their projects can still<br />
thrive without it.<br />
Oldenburg said he it would have been<br />
nice to see JEA select Lot J and “hopefully<br />
get some momentum in that direction. But<br />
I understand that JEA’s job isn’t really to<br />
advance Downtown development. … They<br />
have to make the decision best for their<br />
business.”<br />
He believes Lot J developers saw JEA’s<br />
headquarters as an opportunity to “jumpstart”<br />
their project. “In the long run, provided<br />
they stick to it, there could be potentially<br />
another opportunity,” he said. “Maybe a<br />
better opportunity.”<br />
JEFF DAVIS (2)<br />
42<br />
J MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2019</strong>
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