Amanda Bishop
NCR Editor & Publisher
A new Nassau County government annex will be built in Callahan in the coming years, with the design phase now underway.
The county acquired the 3.6-acre property adjacent to Hagan Ace Hardware in April 2024 for $1.6 million. It neighbors New Bethel AME Church and The Hair Center on Page Street.
“The services provided on the western side of the county, quite frankly, are hitting capacity, and they need additional room. The county’s growing; the population center’s moving west,” County Manager Taco Pope said.
He added in an email to the Record Friday, “The primary objective is to provide a more convenient means to conduct business with local government and access services.”
The new government annex, once constructed, will house the Nassau County tax collector and property appraiser offices, Callahan Branch of the Nassau County Public Library System, Nassau County Clerk of Courts extension, and Florida Department of Health. The site will include multipurpose flex space, outdoor patios and some open green space. Pope said the centralized campus will better serve the needs of the citizens of western Nassau.
During the county commission’s Oct. 13 meeting, a $628,903 contract with Clemons, Rutherford and Associates, Inc. was unanimously approved. The Tallahassee-based architects and consulting engineers are tasked with the design of phase one, which includes a 9,000-square-foot tax collector office. Deputy County Manager and County Engineer Robert Companion said the goal is to complete construction of the tax collector space during the 2027-28 fiscal year subject to budget and funding constraints.
“The CRA contract is just for engineering and architectural design for the site,” Companion said. Once the design is approved, construction bids will be acquired.
As the site is built out, phase two will include construction of a two-story library at 18,000 square feet as the largest facility. The department of health will have 6,000 square feet and the property appraiser 4,200 square feet. The clerk of courts extension will encompass 3,000 square feet and the site will include two buildings combining for 13,800 square feet of flexible usage.
“A timeline for phase two has not been established at this time, although that will be a part of future public discussions once we get further into the design and better construction estimates for the campus,” Companion noted.
editor@nassau
countyrecord.com