Ruins of Jacksonville: The Florida Life Building

[Metro Jacksonville]

Ruins of Jacksonville: The Florida Life Building



It has been called Jacksonville's purest statement of a "skyscraper" and was one of Jacksonville's earliest 'green' buildings. Today, many feel this neglected architectural masterpiece may be better off tumbling to the ground.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-sep-ruins-of-jacksonville-the-florida-life-building

[riverside planner]

The state of these buildings is tragic and speaks volumes about our leadership's lack of commitment to Jacksonville's architectural history.

[heights unknown]

A gem of a building.  It's a shame our City has let it go the way of housing Bird Nests instead of businesses and companies.  Hopefully someone will puchase this building, along with the trio, and the heart of our core will beat right once again.

Heights Unknown

[jaxlore]

that sucks they are great looking buildings

[DavidWilliams]

When was the building last occupied (didn't see it in the article)? Looks to have been empty many years.

[Lunican]

Standing near this building might be a bad idea...

http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/gallery/9623339_Erq4V#648531740_Wp4YZ-A-LB

[mtraininjax]

In light of the cities woes with buildings, I would look elsewhere for a buyer.

[stephendare]

The building was last occupied in the late 80s.  I was there when the Corim Company had to dynamite the cornices off of that building.

They had demanded to be able to demolish them out of fear that they were going to fall.  Despite the number of architects locally who told them that the cornices were sound, Corim was determined to have their way.  They brought out the cranes, and couldnt physically knock them off, and ended up using a small dynamite charge to remove them.

It was terrible.  This one event was the final mass demonstration that I remember of people fighting for the buildings downtown.   We were all out on the street.    After that, It was hard to get people at a protest.

These cornices were so huge and imposingover the street that sidewalk traffic would slow down as people stopped to oooh and  aaah underneath them.

The Scheider family, a german investing group is most responsible for the terrible shape the trio is in.  They bought them then refused to lease at a reasonable price, then threatened to tear the buildings down unless the city purchased them at a huge price (8 million).   The City eventually purchased them and owned them briefly.

They then gave them to the Police and Fire Pension Fund which immediately sold the buildings at a huge profit to Cameron Kuhn. 

Kuhn lost them a year ago, and now an investment group owns them (and is trying to sell them)

Considering how well made the Bank is it would be extremely surprising to find out that it was structurally unsound suddenly.

[lindab]

Who owns this building and the other ones? The sign says Addison but that is just the agent, right?
My second time saying this: The city historic preservation department needs a marketing division. It would save these fine buildings and bring revenue back into a needed area of town.

[ralpho37]

This could be a beautiful building if it were renovated.

[RM]

Love the diamond copper pattern in the cornice.  Thanks for being the fill in on the memory gap there Mr. Dare.  What authority did Corim Company have at that time,  if their findings were disputable?

[stephendare]

They owned the building.  The Historical Society had no power, except the social power of not getting invited to civilized dinner parties and nice homes.

Corim was a swiss corporation,  They couldn't have cared less.

[blizz01]

That's probably laughable to the Swiss or most of Western Europe for that matter when considering that our "historical" structures mostly fall within the last 2-3 centuries & that wasn't even at the 100 year mark at the time.

[Bike Jax]

In a city that really cared about saving it's historic structures whiles also revitalizing it's urban core. The city could reach inside it's preverbal trousers to see if it still has a pair and use it's emanate domain powers to save these building.

Simply give the current owners building a limited time frame to bring the buildings up to a usable/inhabitable condition or the city will take ownership. Should (and when) the city takes ownership of any of the buildings. They should then give (yes I said give) them to pre-qualified persons/corporations that can follow thru to restoring these buildings. The city will get so much more out these types of dealing than they would ever get by sitting on their ass and watching these building crumble.

[Lunican]

I can't help but think about what happened to the Rhodes Furniture building a few blocks away.