City Council approves $7.5 million for 1st and Main in Springfield

The estimated $53.6 million Corner Lot mixed-use development will receive property tax refunds and grant money.


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  • | 5:11 p.m. January 26, 2023
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Corner Lot Development Group’s proposed multifamily and commercial 1st and Main project. The site at 1148 N. Main St. is on the southern edge of the Historic Springfield neighborhood north of Downtown.
Corner Lot Development Group’s proposed multifamily and commercial 1st and Main project. The site at 1148 N. Main St. is on the southern edge of the Historic Springfield neighborhood north of Downtown.
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Corner Lot Development Group’s proposed multifamily and commercial 1st and Main project in Historic Springfield is approved for city financial support. 

The Jacksonville City Council voted 19-0 on Jan. 24 to award  a $7.5 million property tax and cash incentive to the 202-unit market-rate apartment project.

The redevelopment agreement attached to Ordinance 2022-0905 awards a 15-year, 75% Recapture Enhanced Value Grant property tax refund capped at $5.5 million.

It also provides a $2 million development completion grant to be paid in two $1 million installments after the estimated $53.6 million project is finished.

In April, Corner Lot Senior Project Manager William “Billy” Zeits called the property “the gateway to Springfield.”

The site at 1148 N. Main St. is on the southern edge of the Historic Springfield neighborhood north of Downtown.

Corner Lot said Petra Management owns and will preserve the existing Earl Horne Building at 1100 N. Main St. on the block.

The single-story, 12,377-square-foot building could be used for purposes such as a bodega, gym or restaurant. Duval County property records show it was built in 1929. Corner Lot identifies it as the first Chevrolet dealership in Jacksonville.

Corner Lot will develop the remaining 2.7 acres of the block into the mixed-use 1st and Main apartment building with retail space along with a parking deck to help ease parking restraints as the area develops, Corner Lot said.

In addition to the mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, Corner Lot’s plan would create 6,000 square feet of commercial retail and restaurant space, as well as a rooftop use with views of Main Street.

The Council’s vote waived the city’s public investment policy to approve the incentives because it does not specifically define development completion grants. 

However, the cash grants have become more common in recently approved development agreements for Downtown projects like Shad Khan’s proposed Four Seasons hotel-anchored riverfront project and Corner Lot’s partnership project with Kelco Management for a Home2 Suites hotel on Park Street in Brooklyn.

The city agreement includes a five-year clawback provision that would deny the money to Corner Lot should it fail to meet performance benchmarks.

1st and Main does not qualify for the REV grant awarded in the bill because the project will not create the required 10 new jobs and is not a targeted industry. 

The legislative summary filed with the bill cited the size of the capital investment and the endorsement of the project by the Springfield Preservation Revitalization organization as rationale for Council to waive the public investment policy and award the property tax refund.  

Corner Lot expects to begin construction by June 30, 2023, and complete the work by June 2025.


 

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