{"id":286905,"date":"2025-10-08T16:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T16:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286905\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T16:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T16:06:14","slug":"community-opposition-helped-pump-the-brakes-on-plan-to-sell-dcps-riverfront-property-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286905\/","title":{"rendered":"Community opposition helped pump the brakes on plan to sell DCPS Riverfront property. What\u2019s next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 The message from the public was clear: don\u2019t sell it. And on Tuesday night, the Duval County School Board listened.<\/p>\n

In a unanimous 0\u20137 vote, board members rejected a proposal that would have sold the district\u2019s riverfront headquarters<\/a> to Fleet Landing, a nonprofit planning to redevelop the site into a retirement community.<\/p>\n

The decision came after months of discussion. Many locals and growing concerns from the school board sparked a long discussion about whether the $20 million offer was in the best interest of the district, for Jacksonville\u2019s Southbank riverfront future development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not gotten a lot of good feedback from constituents,\u201d District 7 board member Melody Bolduc said during the meeting. \u201cJust because it\u2019s the \u2018best deal\u2019 in the eyes of a very qualified realtor\u2026 if the city doesn\u2019t like it, are we expected just to say yes?\u201d<\/p>\n

A riverfront rethink<\/b><\/p>\n

Fleet Landing was selected as the top bidder earlier this year, beating out nine other proposals for the 1701 Prudential Drive site \u2014 a prime piece of real estate steps from the St. Johns River and the Southbank Riverwalk. The district had also been considering purchasing a $14 million building on Prominence Parkway in Baymeadows to serve as its new administrative headquarters.<\/p>\n

Both the sale and purchase proposals failed with the same result: a \u201cno\u201d.<\/p>\n

Board members said the deal lacked public buy-in and raised too many unanswered questions about long-term value, taxes, and timing.<\/p>\n

RELATED | <\/b>\u2018So much more you can do\u2019: Concerns raised that retirement community could replace DCPS headquarters along riverfront<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI have prayed that if I\u2019m wrong about this, that God would show me,\u201d said District 3 board member Cindy Pearson. \u201cAs I\u2019ve continued to pray about it, I remain steadfast that this is too risky and not a good deal for DCPS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public opposition led the charge<\/b><\/p>\n

Leading up to the vote, no members of the public spoke in favor of the deal. Instead, residents expressed frustration \u2014 not just with the idea of a retirement community on the riverfront, but with what they felt was a rushed and unclear process.<\/p>\n

Some questioned whether the property was being undervalued. Others pushed for amenities that would better serve the entire city, such as restaurants, parks, or a space for families.<\/p>\n

MORE |<\/b> \u2018Bad deals for DCPS\u2019: Board member cites payment structure, lack of meeting space as concerns for buying new HQ building<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the retirees,\u201d said Jacksonville resident Kisha Shabazz during a previous interview. \u201cBut there is so much more you can do with that space… Why not use it for upscale dining and really leverage the river and what it\u2019s there for?\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/b> | \u2018So much more you can do\u2019: Concerns raised that retirement community could replace DCPS headquarters along riverfront<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

District 5 Board Member Reginald Blount echoed those sentiments, urging the board to slow down and reconsider all available options.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel comfortable where we are now,\u201d Blount said. \u201cI really think it should be a little more discussion. I would hope that even the other offers that came down, there should be more discussion about it, because we don\u2019t have to move.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/b><\/p>\n

For now, the district will remain headquartered on the Southbank. But the conversation about what should happen to the property \u2014 and whether the district should move \u2014 is far from over.<\/p>\n

Multiple board members made clear that while they\u2019re open to relocating in the future, they want a better deal, a clearer plan, and a process that puts the community first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can all agree this property has value,\u201d Bolduc said. \u201cBut how we handle it matters just as much as what we get for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

News4JAX Reporter Briana Brownlee filed a public request asking for all of the bids submitted and the scoring sheets. At the time of this publication, the request hadn\u2019t been fulfilled. Please check back for updates. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The message from the public was clear: don\u2019t sell it. And on Tuesday night, the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":286906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,26459,56179,3188,723,7310,12013,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-286905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dcps","10":"tag-duval-county-public-schools","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-morning-show","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115339407242193551","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}