Jacksonville DIA gives CEO green light to send out request for proposal for new convention center

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Downtown Investment Authority voted to support the building of a new convention center, with a hotel and parking garage.

Now it’s up to the DIA to help find the right developer for the job.

The former courthouse annex, City Hall and a nearby parking lot on Bay Street East have been sitting unused for years.

It’s a sight downtown local Dimitri Demopoulos has become accustomed to.

“We’ve all wanted something to happen there since the courthouse got vacated,” Demopoulos said.

Now the search has begun for someone who can build an “iconic” new convention center in its place.

“This could be something that’s going to finally start to put a stamp on the whole street,” Demopoulos said.

The proposals have to include at least a 350-room hotel, a 200,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a 40,000-square-foot ballroom and a parking garage.

Those metrics came from a feasibility study that showed Jacksonville ranked low among convention center destinations.

DIA CEO Aundra Wallace called the effort to request proposals “a test of the market.”

“You have to listen to what the market tells you. I don’t think that it’s prudent for us to do anything other than what the market is going to tell us,” Wallace said.

Demopoulos is excited about the idea but he asked leaders Wednesday to keep locals in mind.

“The most important thing that I would suggest is that the design be evaluated very carefully as to how it integrates with the surrounding neighborhood,” Demopoulos said.

Wallace first needs to hire an advisory firm to help market the property correctly.

Right now, the city has set aside about $8 million to demolish the former courthouse and City Hall.

The parking lot nearby is already being torn down by the city. It remains to be seen if potential developers would want to use all of that space or only a portion of it.

As for the Prime Osborn Convention Center, Wallace said, “(I)n the event that the convention center is no longer located in the LaVilla neighborhood, we need to talk about, someday, how do we dispose of that property.”

Wallace plans to put out the request for proposal by the end of January.

Cox Media Group