JSO eyes moving headquarters to Florida Blue building

JSO headquarters could soon be moving to a new location.

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Members of city council held a preliminary hearing Thursday on the possibility of JSO moving out of the Police Memorial Building downtown and into the Florida Blue building in Brooklyn.

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Sheriff T.K. Waters told Action News Jax the nearly century-old Police Memorial Building where JSO is currently headquartered has outlived its usefulness.

“There’s not enough space here, there’s not enough parking here,” Waters said.

In September, city council signed off on a 12 1/2-year lease for JSO to move its Homeland Security Division into the Florida Blue building.

After seeing the space and its potential, Sheriff Waters began considering the building as a potential new home for the rest of the agency.

“Being able to move into a building that we can lease, where the maintenance is going to be handled by the owner of that building is huge for us and a long-term savings for our city,” Waters said.

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City council and Mayor Donna Deegan will ultimately have to sign off on any deal to relocate JSO and Sheriff Waters said he’s hopeful that can happen sooner rather than later.

But there is one issue that could possibly cause a snag down the line.

In December, well after JSO began looking into the proposed move, Mayor Deegan appointed Florida Blue Executive Darnell Smith as her new Chief of Staff.

Smith is serving as an executive on loan, which means he’s still technically employed by Florida Blue and the company is even covering his city salary.

In a statement, the mayor’s office vowed Smith would not be involved in the proposed move.

“While this negotiation will be largely driven by the Sheriff’s Office, Mr. Smith will not participate in any conversations, negotiations, or decision-making on matters related to Florida Blue while he is an executive on loan to the City of Jacksonville,” City of Jacksonville Chief Communications Officer Philip Perry said in an emailed statement.

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At the end of the day, Sheriff Waters said he hopes if the relocation becomes reality, it may serve as the spark that gets the ball rolling on other projects that will eventually need to be dealt with.

“If we start by moving this and then eventually I know the Sulzbacher has plans to move, and then the final piece of that puzzle will be moving that jail,” Waters said.

Sheriff Waters said it’s his goal to solidify the move before the end of the year.

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If it goes through, he predicted the Police Memorial Building would be vacated, likely demolished and the property eventually sold by the city to the highest bidder.

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