A new health and wellness center for Jacksonville’s retired and active-duty firefighters is nearing completion as the project team continues transforming the former Woodlawn Baptist Church building on Stockton Street.
The Firefighters’ Health and Wellness Center located at 618 Stockton Street is eyeing a February 2027 opening, according to Buck Smoak, director of business development for Auld and White Constructors. Architecture firm LS3P and civil engineer Baxter and Woodman join Auld and White on the project team.
Smoak said the design team found ways to pay homage to the building’s history while bringing a new façade to the Stockton Street frontage.
“We paid honor to that additional structure that was added onto the back and kept the bones of that added structure in the background, but put a new façade along Stockton Street,” Smoak said. “So, it all looks like a new building and is seamless that way, but at the same time, the actual building is still there – the bones of the building – to pay honor to the historic nature of what the church was.”
City officials and project stakeholders broke ground on the project in February. JFRD Director/Fire Chief Percy Golden II spoke to what the incoming wellness center represented. “Between the smoke we breathe, the contaminants that stick to our gear and skin, and the physical and mental demands of the job, firefighters carry a lot over the course of a career,” said Golden in a press release about the groundbreaking ceremony. “This building sends a powerful message that this department values the health, safety, and longevity of its members.”
Transforming the former church into this new space for firefighters has taken nearly a year, with the first building permit issued this past March for the $2.9 million renovation and addition for the center.
According to county records, the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, IAFF Local No. 122, acquired the property in 2004. The parcel is just over 1.5 acres, with three structures, including the original church building and two later additions.
Smoak said the project was especially meaningful to Auld and White, given its involvement in constructing several fire stations for JFRD in the past, which has allowed the company to build relationships with the various fire chiefs and firefighters serving the Jacksonville community.
“This is a culmination of a lot of different things,” Smoak said. “It’s our history in Jacksonville and what Jacksonville means to us, and to be able to feed into that by paying honor to an historic structure, but also then providing a community space for the firefighters… It’s a full circle moment.”
Plans for wellness center stretch back several years. JFRD’s Health and Wellness initiative launched in 2018 to include services like annual physical screenings, pulmonary function testing, cardiovascular stress testing, ultrasound screenings, blood work, blood pressure monitoring, vaccinations and hearing and vision testing.
According to the February press release, the wellness center will serve as a centralized location where JFRD can “expand these services, improve accessibility for members across the department’s 68 stations and deliver care in a purpose-built environment for firefighters.”
In 2023, the Jacksonville City Council approved legislation authorizing a lease of the property to the Association of Firefighters, IAFF Local No. 122, Inc. for the center, with project oversight assigned to the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD). According to the bill summary for Ordinance 2023-0499, “this center will provide a central facility for several major health services including medical fitness, injury/rehabilitation, and mental health.”
The prior year, additional legislation appropriated a $2.5 million grant from the Division of State Fire Marshal, with a $2.5 million local match.