A city committee approved Fort Lauderdale-based REVA Development Corp.’s bid to purchase the Armory Building.
The Competitive Sealed Proposal Evaluation Committee voted 3-0 Thursday to approve the bid, which was chosen by the city Office of Economic Development and sent to the committee.
The committee will negotiate a sale, lease or both with REVA Development, after which the deal will go to City Council for a vote and then to Mayor Lenny Curry for final approval.
REVA Development proposes 100 units of workforce housing with 4,000 square feet of community space and a cultural arts facility at the former Florida National Guard armory at 815 N. Market St.
“MADE at the ARMORY” would be an adaptive reuse of the Armory Building, said Don Patterson, president of REVA Development.
It would include working art studios, a performance stage and facility, art galleries and event space. It would create “a hub/destination that brings arts, entertainment, entrepreneurship and education all under a single roof,” according to the plans.
The proposal says it would “help transform the neighborhood and community for greater economic development, live/work housing, retail, restaurant, arts, and entertainment.”
Armory Flats Art Lofts would be built on the property next to the Armory Building. Some of the 100 units would be set aside as residential and workspace for artists and their families, which according to the plans would “ bolster traffic and programming operations” for MADE at the ARMORY.
The plans also state there would be “opportunities to develop housing units at a variety of household incomes.”
Armory Flats would include commercial space for nonprofits and art-focused small businesses and would “transform a vacant and underutilized facility into a hub of creative and commercial activity.”
The building is 80,826 square feet on 2.02 acres. The city included a 2.97-acre site next to it with 21,594 square feet of warehouse space.
Jacksonville-based Arkest LLC and Boca Raton-based B&H Fine Foods also submitted bids.
