JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville developer wants to build what he calls Healthy Town on contaminated land.
His proposal is one of two bids submitted to JEA, which wants to sell a piece of Southbank property for development.
The land is right on the St. Johns River, next to the Duval County School Board building. It's the location where the NFL Experience was held for the 2005 Super Bowl in Jacksonville. Before that it was home to the Southside generating station.
In 2002 when JEA imploded the old Southside generating station it was to make way for new development. The plan was to sell the land and turn it into a major investment for the city and the utility company. But it never happened. A slow economy and a contaminated site postponed that vision until now.
JEA received two bids from developers interested in buying the property, which is listed at a retail value of about $35 million. Details of the bids have not been released yet.
One bid is from a group out of Atlanta, but the other is local, called Elements Development of Jacksonville. Local developer Peter Rummell is part of the group involved. The group's idea is called Healthy Town.
But the soil is contaminated.
"I think the irony of taking something that is contaminated and making it healthy is -- I thought about that -- is actually a good part of the story," Rummell said.
Whatever developer is accepted would have to clean the site and bring it to federal, state and local standards. That would be part of the deal. JEA, which has been holding onto the property, has reached agreements with the city, school board and the Department of Transportation to make this site accessible and to allow for a new road. The school board would give up some of its parking lot to make way for the development and get a new lot next door.
"We know it's a valuable piece of property for the city of Jacksonville, for the community," said Gerri Boyce of JEA. "We certainly want this property to be an asset to Jacksonville and the North Florida community."
Rummell and his group see this as primarily a place for people to live. He said it would promote a healthy lifestyle, not just gyms and yoga but a whole focus on wellness.
Details of both bids will be released later this month after JEA decides which bid to accept.