The city owns hundreds of vacant buildings, but two of the biggest and most visible are also among the most expensive to keep up.
Jacksonville's old City Hall and the old Duval County Courthouse sit side-by-side on the north bank of the St. Johns River. The courthouse has been vacant -- if you don't count the rats -- for four years, but for security reasons, the electricity and water service have to remain on. That average monthly utility bill is $4,600, or about $55,000 per year.
Recommended Videos
Next door, the 15-story City Hall building housed the State Attorney's Office until last spring, also sits empty except for some city computers. The utility bill for that building runs $5,100 each month, or about $61,000 per year.
The city is hoping to sell the property the buildings occupy, but it's not ready to go on the market until the condemned parking lot behind the buildings is fixed. There are plans to tear down the parking lot and turn it into a marina, which would make the property more attractive to developers.
There has also been talk of using the site for a convention center, but there are no definitive plans in the works.