When you’re flying across the Matthews bridge and come to the bottom at the first intersection, you look right and see a huge red water tank atop a massive, long cement monster of a building, you’ve arrived.   That is the old 700 East Union Street storage and commercial building. For years, according to Chris Sandstrom, seamstress and artist in her own right noted there were spaces there for creative efforts over the years.  She said, “We had quite the community of business people there”. Who knew that for years and years the area was used for businesses, artists and more to sell and work on their crafts!

Photographers standing in front of the proposed new look for 700 Union St.

 In 2018, it was bought by Columbia  Ventures LLC and five years later photographers were invited to take a couple of hours to photograph the old building til’ their hearts content in order to preserve some of its history.

According to records, the 7.99-acre site was bought for $4.5 million and is being renovated into apartments, housing units and a restaurant. On the day we arrived the place had been completely gutted and inside walls were going up.  Also, the earth-movers were clearing out the grounds for parking space and yard renovations.  There was a lot going on. As Sandstorm said, “Soooo much history in that building”.  

The day went off without a hitch.  Photographers, and even wanna-be photographers like me went to the main office, signed waivers, promised photos of some sort and spent a hard-hat-day walking the span of this age-old building for a couple of hours. Before walking on the site, all visitors saw a safety video, had specific instructions by employees about the do’s and don’ts and each person was given a safety hat. 

The photo-tour was guided by three employees, Ryan, Ormondo, and Tore, spending about 20 minutes spent on each floor with the bonus of walking beneath the old water tower on top. On every floor, a reminder of safety instructions were given to ensure well-being.

Photographers then were let loose to walk anywhere there was not caution tape.  The thoughts were that through the eyes and lens of many photographers, they may capture some of the history in order to preserve it in a long-lasting way.  Photos will possibly be used for wall space, in foyers, apartments, offices and more.

Certainly, historians should be thrilled that not only is the building being repurposed but even history such as the photograph of old bottles, wall cracks, metal doors, old light switches, locks,  and even old rivets have been documented. 

The next time you’re flying across the Matthews Street Bridge, look right and you’ll see preservation at its finest. Oh, and ‘A shout-out to Columbia Ventures for having such a vision so as to preserve a building built in 1913 and even with vision to preserve the nuts, bolts, bottles and more!

See you tomorrow,

Nan 

Sources:  Jacksonville Daily Record, Duval County Tax Records, Wikipedia, Personal Visit.