The Downtown Investment Authority board voted 8-0 July 15 to reject an unsolicited proposal for a $550 million convention center at The Ford on Bay riverfront site.
Board Chair Ron Moody said the DIA has a responsibility to continue negotiations with New York-based Spandrel Development Partners LLC, according to WJCT News partner the Jacksonville Daily Record.
DIA awarded the bid in February to Spandrel to develop a $136 million mixed-use residential and retail project at the former Duval County Courthouse and City Hall site on the Northbank riverfront. It held a competitive bidding process.
Moody and other DIA board members said their decision July 15 would not preclude the city from considering the Jacobs Engineering Group’s proposal or issuing another request for proposals should negotiations with Spandrel fall through.
Jacobs’ unsolicited bid rejected by the board July 15 was submitted in January. The developer resubmitted that proposal on July 14, which Moody asked to be reviewed by the DIA Strategic Implementation Committee."
“I think we’re obligated to follow through on that,” Moody said. “But what I would say, in the next 90 days as the chair, I’m going to suggest and ask the (DIA) Strategic Implementation Committee to be available to review the convention center site in the event that Spandrel, for one reason or another, is not finalized. We’ll know what our options are going forward.”
Read the rest of this story at JaxDailyRecord.com.
