The proposed Daily’s convenience store and gas station mixed-use project proposed in the LaVilla neighborhood received unanimous conceptual approval March 9 from the Downtown Development Review Board.
First Coast Energy, the Jacksonville-based parent company of Daily’s, intends to build a two-story structure with a convenience store and 16 gas pumps, a neighborhood market, a full-service restaurant and a rooftop bar.
First Coast Energy paid almost $3.3 million in August 2020 for the 1.4-acre block defined by Bay, Broad, Forsyth and Jefferson streets near the Duval County Courthouse.
Brian Miller, owner of Bold City Brewery, said his company is partnering with First Coast to operate a microbrewery and the restaurant on the second floor and the rooftop bar.
Miller said he wants to close the brewery’s East Bay Street location, which is struggling because the site does not meet the brewery’s needs, and relocate its Downtown operations to Daily’s in LaVilla.
“We don’t have parking, we don’t have food and we don’t have space for events,” Miller said.
The conceptual approval followed a workshop to address concerns from the board about the site plan and building design that were brought up at the board’s Jan. 12 meeting.
Board members expressed concern that the design as presented would require deviations from Downtown design standards, particularly in terms of ground-level transparency, parking and the traffic pattern around the structure.
To meet Downtown design guidelines, at least 50% of ground-level walls must be windows. The conceptual design approved for the Daily’s would have a solid wall behind the store’s coolers, freezers and storage area inside the store solid to hide the equipment, but with a mural painted on the exterior.
Another initial staff recommendation was to require the building on the site to be constructed along the boundary streets, surrounding the parking area in the center of the site.
First Coast Energy CEO Aubrey Edge said the parking has to be designed like other convenience store/gas station projects, with easy access from the street for customers and their vehicles.
Edge also said that the LaVilla site will have less space for parking than other Daily’s locations.
“We are buying 5-acre parcels with at least an acre for parking,” Edge said.
Jordan Elsbury with Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm that represents First Coast Energy on the project, said the convenience store and gas station is vital to the concept of establishing a restaurant and bar in LaVilla.
“It will drive more traffic and create a destination concept that works financially. Currently, the site won’t support a brewery and restaurant,” Elsbury said.
Edge also commented on the financial element of the project.
“We don’t expect to make a return on investment any time soon. This is a long-range vision,” he said.
During public comment, representatives of the neighborhood acknowledged meeting with the developer to discuss their concerns about the project’s connection to LaVilla’s history, but said Jacksonville’s first African American neighborhood must continue to be considered while developing the Daily’s project.
“You need to involve the Black community in the 150-year-old neighborhood,” said Ennis Davis, an urban planner and member of the heritage group.
The board added a condition for final approval that Daily’s continue to meet with community stakeholders to refine the design of the project in context with the neighborhood’s history.
Board Chair Matt Brockelman said that conceptual approval is one stop, but not the final step for approval of the project.
Streetscape, urban space and landscape design, review of potential deviations and final approval will be scheduled for a future DDRB meeting.