JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The City of Jacksonville is sitting on millions of dollars in prime real estate and there are no immediate plans to do anything with it.
“You can’t help but be awed when you're coming in and see that beautiful skyline. And we have such an asset on that river and we have such a fantastic front door to Jacksonville."
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Jeremy Hill, knows downtown means much more than big buildings. As a local real estate agent, he sees infinite opportunities to infuse life into the city's core. Right now a couple of prime riverfront properties are sitting vacant. Lined along the beautiful banks of the St. Johns River, the old Duval County Courthouse, the annex and its parking lot sit unused. According to the property appraisers reports, those properties are worth nearly $30 million.
“I think there are a lot of golden eggs in downtown Jacksonville. We are fortunate that the city owns a lot of property that could be redeveloped,” said Terry Lorince with Downtown Vision Inc.
Downtown Vision has previously expressed interest in building a convention center at the site.
So the question is, how long will the multi-million dollar property sit with a boarded up building on it? Action News wanted to know how long would it take city officials to act on the prime property, they couldn't tell us but stated “the land would be open to redevelopment, although there are no immediate plans approved for future use by the city of Jacksonville.”
Action News asked Lorince if the wheels are in motion to demolish the old Duval County Courthouse. “I'm not sure where the city is but the items that need to be considered is finding the money to level the sight, develop the sight."
"Unused property is in a state of decay. There's no reason for it to sit there at all, in my opinion,” said Hill.
If the old courthouse is demolished and nothing is ready to be built immediately, Downtown Vision Inc. says it would like to build a park on the property in the meantime.
