Senior living community may replace DCPS’s admin building downtown if the sale is approved.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The future of the location of the Duval County Public Schools headquarters building will be decided Tuesday.

The school board will vote on a deal to sell its current building on Jacksonville’s Southbank, and purchase a new building in Baymeadows.

The current building sits on 1701 Prudential Drive, considered prime real estate right along the St. Johns River. The company interested in purchasing the property, Fleet Landing, has plans to build a senior living community in its place for $20 million.

DCPS has been working with the real estate firm, Trinity Commercial Group (TCG) to help facilitate the sale of the current administration building on the Southbank and purchase of a new building. DCPS Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said the firm and district leaders reviewed several options for a new administration building, noting the options downtown were either out of budget or only offered a lease.

The recommendation was to purchase the Southern Grocers building on Prominence Parkway for $14 million. The building would accommodate about 600 DCPS employees, according to Dr. Bernier. He also added during the August school board meeting that the building would be purchased turn-key and furnished.

The option to move DCPS headquarters from its Downtown Jacksonville-centralized location to the Baymeadows area prompted concerns from parents brought up by district four board member Darryl Willie during the August board meeting.

“That was my biggest…tension was how are parents gonna access this building if we’re way out here [in Baymeadows],” said Willie.

“I think that’s a great question because for me…parents shouldn’t be coming here,” said board chair Charlotte Joyce during the August meeting. “They should be going to our parent resource center in Midtown.”

The Jacksonville Branch of the NAACP also released a statement following the news of DCPS potentially moving to the Baymeadows area, that says in part: “Relocating the school board’s administrative offices to a decentralized area significantly impacts residents who lack reliable transportation. The move contradicts the decades-long tradition of centrally located municipal agencies which is essential for preserving accessibility, transparency, and equity for all residents in Jacksonville.”

Dr. Bernier stressed during the August board meeting that parents wouldn’t be affected because the student-parent resource center is already located at the Shultz Center, located at 4019 Boulevard Center Drive in the Midtown area. He said resources like registration are available at each school, the Shultz Center provides additional resources for families that go beyond the scope of each school.

If the deal is approved, the school district would profit $6 million.

“That money goes back into our building program. It can’t come and increase salaries. It can’t come and do other things. It’s capital dollars that have to stay on the capital side. So again, as we’ve talked about every time we make a responsible decision around one of our properties, those dollars then help increase the amount of money to build school buildings like South Side Estates and Ribault High School,” said Dr. Bernier during the August board meeting.

When it comes to the future of the Southbank property?

“People are hoping something big could replace it,” said Sam Meeks who lives on the Southbank in one of the new apartment buildings. “When I moved here, I originally looked at a unit facing the school board building and didn’t want to see that out my window so I took a different unit on the other side.

Fleet Landing, a non-profit organization, shared a statement with First Coast News saying its $20 million bid was selected for the potential purchase. And if approved, they’d turn the property into its third senior living community.

First though, the deal will have to pass a vote by school board members during its Sept. 2 meeting at 6 p.m. If it passes, they expect to close on the sale of its building August on 2026.

If the school board votes it down, the superintendent said the district will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out other options.