by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The choir singing the praises of Downtown’s potential as a place to both live and work is about to get a couple more new voices.
City Council Vice President Daniel Davis and Council member Elaine Brown have scheduled a Sept. 5 meeting with Greg Matovina of Matovina & Co. and Nocatee developer Jed Davis to discuss Downtown revitalization issues with an emphasis on affordable or workforce housing.
“I work with them in the construction industry. Greg and Jed both have significant experience with development,” said Davis, who is also the executive director at the Northeast Florida Builders Association. “I think they probably have good ideas on how to look at properties and see what would be the best thing to do with them.”
Brown said, “These guys are big players and I want to get their input.”
Matovina is a past-president of the Builders Association and chairman of Greater Jacksonville Communities, a not-for-profit organization within NEFBA.
Matovina said that GJC relies on the experience of builders and that its purpose is to, “Help provide more affordable housing and improve neighborhoods.”
He pointed out that while Greater Jacksonville Communities does have some projects underway, the effort is just getting started.
“We don’t have much to toot our horns about right now. We work behind the scenes,” he said.
GJC will not serve the same purpose as HabiJax, said Matovina.
“There’s more to it than just building a hundred houses a year,” he said. “Our role is to focus on building communities and bringing back whole neighborhoods.”
Davis said that he doesn’t believe that the two developers’ lack of experience in urban-core renewal projects makes any difference.
“Development is development. It’s about site plans and drainage and parks and sidewalks and trees and money. It’s all development,” he said.
“Sometimes projects move too slowly,” said Matovina. “We want to help organizations with good ideas who need help with implementation.”
Brown said that the meeting is not intended to conflict with the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s mandate to take responsibility for the future of Downtown redevelopment.
“This meeting is very preliminary. It’s just a brain-storming session,” she said. “If anything comes out of it, the first thing I’ll do is take it directly over to (executive director) Ron Barton at the JEDC.”
No one indicated a specific area of Downtown they would focus on during the meeting at City Hall.