Pearl Street District Block N5 moved closer to construction July 11 when the Downtown Development Review Board unanimously approved the conceptual design for the project after 10 minutes of presentation and discussion.
The site at 721 N. Pearl St. is part of the more than $400 million first phase of the Gateway Jax project in the NorthCore area.
The building, formerly owned by First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, is often referred to as the “lighthouse garage,” said attorney Cyndy Trimmer with Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, representing the developer.
The block is bordered by Beaver, Julia, Pearl and Union streets.
The five-story parking garage and its attached lighthouse will be retrofitted with storefronts as a development pad/phase within the Pearl Street District multiphase site plan in the Church District of the Downtown Zoning Overlay.
The project architect is Bold Line Design.
The design provides for renovating the structure and adding 10,000 square feet of commercial storefronts along Beaver Street. The retail space would wrap the corners along Pearl and Julia streets, but not extend to Union Street, according to the application.
Trimmer said the design is intended to make the parking garage “fade into the background” by placing the visual interest on the ground-level retail and streetscape.
“I think we are proving that repurposing a parking garage is viable,” Trimmer said.
Board members praised the design and the project.
“This is an awesome transformative project,” said board member Frederick Jones.
“It sets the bar for the type of development we want to see Downtown,” said Gary Monahan, board secretary.
Board member Carl Dawson Jr. asked if any of the retail space is under contract.
Trimmer said Gateway Jax has retained a consultant to recruit tenants that will “support the needs of Downtown residents and also create a destination.”
The landscape and streetscape designs will be presented when the project returns to the board for final approval.
Gateway Jax LLC is a commercial real estate venture backed by DLP Capital and sponsored by JWB Real Estate Capital.
The Gateway Jax project is a $2 billion multiphase, mixed-use development encompassing 20 blocks in the NorthCore Downtown to eventually include 1,160 apartments, office space, 120,000 square feet of grocery-anchored retail space and parking over the next decade.
The budget for the first five-block phase is estimated at more than $400 million. The city has approved $98.58 million in incentives for the project.
