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JEA Board Approves Southside Generating Station Site Bid
Jacksonville, FL (May 20, 2005) - The JEA Board of Directors met briefly today to formally accept bids for the Southside Generating Station property.
JEA staff and counsel attorneys reviewed seven bids JEA received on Tuesday, May 17 and recommended the Board accept the bid from Cowford Riverfront LLC, in the amount of $40.6 million for the 25-acre development site. Board members unanimously approved the sale.
The successful bidder is allowed 90 days to perform due diligence on the property, as allowed in the bid contract.
Under the bid specifications, about 9.7 acres of the former power plant site will be set aside to the City of Jacksonville for public access, riverwalk and park areas. The public space parameters describe a riverwalk and park parcel that would "run the length of the riverfront with an average depth from the river of 150 feet and a minimum depth of 25 feet."
The successful bidder will negotiate separately with the city on the public elements of the development.
The property is located along the south side of the St. Johns River and was used as the event site for the NFL Experience during Super Bowl XXXIX in February.
Since the Southside Generation Station was decommissioned in 2001, JEA has spent about $25 million for demolition, disposal and environmental activities associated with the site. The 200-megawatt power plant had been in operation for 51 years when it was decommissioned.
Under a Brownfield Site Rehabilitation Agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, used to recondition and reclaim former industrial property, JEA removed and replaced more than 265,000 tons of earth that was contaminated by power plant operations and ship building that occurred at the site in the past.
JEA is the eighth largest community-owned electric utility in America, providing electric, water and sewer services to more than 750,000 accounts in Northeast Florida.
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