The former Community Connections building in the Downtown Cathedral District could be closer to redevelopment, as funds to purchase the site are now in place.
Ginny Myrick, representing the nonprofit Cathedral District Jax Inc., said money to buy the property at 325 E. Duval St. has been secured through an endowment to the nonprofit.
Downtown Investment Authority CEO Aundra Wallace said last week there still are significant hurdles to redevelop the 1.5-acre site at Duval, Liberty and Church streets and Shields Place.
“That project has a disadvantage because time is not a commodity that they have,” Wallace said at the Downtown Investment Authority meeting last Tuesday. “Whether or not they’re going meet those challenges remains to be seen.”
Wallace said there were some “pre-standing obligations that need to be addressed,” both with financing and land-use restrictions.
The property is facing foreclosure from the city, the first of four lienholders on debt stemming from a $288,200 State Apartment Incentive Loan from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. awarded to Community Connections to rehab the building in 1995.
“We’re talking with the city about the outstanding debt, and the developer is having discussions about the incentives,” Myrick said.
Chase Properties Inc. President Mike Balanky wants to buy the property and turn it into a mixed-use development with multifamily housing. An early proposal calls for 115-120 units of market-rate and workforce housing and possible street-level retail.
He said previously the project wouldn’t be feasible if the property went into foreclosure.
While Balanky’s proposal currently sets aside 15 percent of the apartments for workforce housing, Wallace said he believed the property is restricted to low-income housing, which he said he hoped could be relaxed.
Myrick said she was unaware of any land-use restrictions other than those that accompany historic landmark designation. In August, City Council designated a portion of the structure as a historic landmark as part of a compromise with the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission.
Wallace said another challenge centers on how much the city would be willing to contribute in the form of financial incentives.
“The discussed incentives package could be very steep for that particular project,” he said.
Wallace said the developers have financial decisions to make “because, at the end of the day, the city and the DIA can’t do everything.”
Myrick said that while the project seems to be developing slowly, “it’s certainly not falling apart.”
“It’s moving along, but it’s a process,” Myrick said. “If you’re going to do anything that requires city approval, you have to go through that process.”
Myrick said the project is the first of several the nonprofit hopes to help initiate for the Downtown neighborhood.
“Historically it was the neighborhood for the middle income,” she said. “We’re hoping this can provide that critical mass of residents we need Downtown.”
Myrick said two other projects are in development for the area, but that “it would be premature for me to talk about them right now.”