A Valdosta, Georgia-based developer will receive up to a $5.75 million tax incentive for its 247-apartment, mixed-use proposal to redevelop the George Doro Fixture Co. property Downtown.
The Downtown Investment Authority Board voted 8-0 on Oct. 14 to authorize a 15-year, 65% Recapture Enhanced Value Grant for Rise: A Real Estate Company’s $65.64 million project, The Doro.
DIA Director of Downtown Real Estate and Development Steve Kelley issued a revised staff report one day before the meeting that reduced the proposed REV grant by $480,000 from $6.23 million.
The document states “minor revisions” to the project’s return on investment changed the ad valorem property taxes the DIA estimates The Doro will generate.
Rise, through Jacksonville Properties I LLC, committed to $50.3 million of private capital investment for The Doro, according to DIA records.
The developer will demolish the existing George Doro Fixture Co. buildings at the 1.63-acre site to develop the seven-story building at 102 & 128 A. Philip Randolph Blvd. in the Sports and Entertainment District.
In its place, Rise proposes a seven-story development and seven-level, 284-space parking garage with rooftop amenities.
DIA documents show the project includes 4,875 square feet of ground-floor retail commercial and restaurant space; a 4,653-square-foot terrace with an indoor-outdoor public bar; a resident swimming pool; and other amenities.
Rise wants to build a 6,100-square-foot street plaza with outdoor seating in a closed area of East Forsyth Street between The Doro and neighboring Manifest Distilling.
The closed right of way is owned by 929 East Bay Street LLC as part of the Manifest and Intuition Ale Works complex, according to online Duval County Clerk of Court records.
A DIA staff report states Rise is negotiating with the owner for shared use of the space, “particularly during game days and other events” in the Downtown Sports and Entertainment District.
The Doro is near the Jacksonville Jaguars home stadium TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp home field 121 Financial Ballpark and VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Matthew Marshall, Rise vice president of development, said Oct. 6 that The Doro apartments will comprise:
• 13 town houses, a mix of one- and two-bedroom units of 909 to 1,183 square feet.
• 22 studio units of 472 to 597 square feet.
• 40 small one-bedroom units of 600 to 642 square feet.
• 116 one-bedroom units from 679 to 750 square feet.
• 56 two-bedroom units from 962-1,217 square feet.
The majority of the DIA board was in support of the project during the Oct. 14 meeting, but Board member Oliver Barakat expressed concern about awarding incentives to a project that will demolish a 106-year-old structure.
“I think that we need to at least acknowledge the fact that the building we’re losing is a historically attractive building. Whether it’s historically significant or not, that’s not for use to decide on this board,” he said. “But when we have some much vacant land all over the Downtown and the market has clearly shown a desire to occupy historic buildings, whether it’s retail or creative office, it’s frustrating that we’re losing this building on this site.”
Barakat noted that the development will add residential density Downtown and falls within the DIA’s current goals and objectives for incentives.
But he said the DIA should look at considering a site’s historic nature when the agency redrafts its Bid and Community Redevelopment Agency Plan in the coming months.
Barakat’s comments echo public input stressing the building’s historic nature when the plan was vetted and approved by the Downtown Development Review Board on May 14.
The Doro Fixture Co. building is not in Jacksonville’s Downtown National Register District and does not have local landmark status to protect it from demolition, according to a Downtown Investment Authority staff report released in March.
The DIA cited a review by the city Planning and Development Department’s Historic Preservation Section in the report.
The first building on the property dates back to 1914, and six more structures were added through 1954.
Documents from the Florida Division of Historical Resources show the building was reviewed by state officials in 1983, 1991 and 2003 and found the structure potentially eligible for a local historic designation but the landmark status was never sought.
