JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two firms with experience in building apartments submitted proposals for acquiring the JEA tower in downtown Jacksonville that’s been vacant since the utility moved into a new headquarters building.

JEA opened bids July 29 submitted by Simple State Inc. and Live Oak Contracting LLC for the 19-story tower built in the early 1960s on West Church Street.

The Jacksonville Historical Society calls it “one of the masterpieces” of downtown Jacksonville’s mid-century modern architecture and considers it an endangered building because the longer it stands vacant, the greater the chance of it being demolished someday.

Live Oak Contracting, whose office is in downtown a few blocks from the tower, has built a host of new apartment buildings in Florida and other states. It has sought to add renovation of historic buildings to its portfolio and is interested as well in acquiring the Laura Street Trio in downtown.

Simple State Inc., which shows a Jacksonville Beach address in its corporate filing, is lead by Marc P. Kozman who also has been involved converting a vacant office building into apartments off the Arlington Expressway. That project is overhauling a building that has been vacant since the FBI moved out of it in 2009.

JEA did not immediately provide specific information about what’s in the proposals. That information, including the price each bidder is offering, remains confidential for 30 days or until JEA sends an intent to award the winning bidder, whichever comes first.

The next stage will entail an evaluation of each bid and designation of a top-ranked proposal for negotiations on a purchase and sale agreement. The final step will be JEA board approval.

JEA invited proposals in February for developers to explain how they would use the utility’s former headquarters building.

The request said respondents would work with JEA, the city of Jacksonville, the Downtown Investment Authority and other regulatory bodies “to develop the former HQ in a manner that best serves the community’s interests.”

In addition to the 19-story tower on Church Street that still prominently displays JEA’s logo, the utility put up for sale the six-story building that was JEA’s customer service center and the nearby Adair Building that contains 513 parking spaces and some storefront retail space along Laura Street.

The tower and the customer service center share a parking deck with about 190 spaces.

The tower and the customer service center have been vacant for two years since JEA moved to a new headquarters building in April 2023 to 225 N. Pearl St. near the Duval County Courthouse.

Editor’s note: This story was first published by our news partners, The Florida Times-Union.