by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Well over a year ago, talk among the Downtown Development Authority was that LaVilla may one day be the home to a Sony-Loews Entertainment complex — better known as a Magic Johnson Theater. Eventually, the excitement of those discussions subsided as the potential deal became more rumor than reality and, over the past several months, no one has mentioned the project.
That may change soon.
Representatives of Canyon-Johnson Urban Land Fund, LP are planning to visit Jacksonville later this month to look into economic development possibilities. Canyon-Johnson is a partnership between Canon Capital Realty Advisors and Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his Johnson Development Corporation.
In a letter to Mayor John Delaney, Canyon-Johnson senior vice president Jeffery Waldon, said he was coming to Jacksonville as part of a Southeast United States swing. While he’s here, Waldon would like to look at whatever urban development opportunities exist in Jacksonville. Neither DDA managing director Al Battle nor Jacksonville Economic Development Commission executive director Kirk Wendland could be reached for comment — both are in San Francisco on the Chamber’s Leadership trip — but DDA project manager Jason Thiel said the DDA would welcome Waldon.
“We would be very anxious to talk with them when they come to town,” said Thiel, declining to address the issue any further.
Waldon, too, asked not to be quoted and referred to his letter as the only comment supporting his planned visit.
According to what Waldon told Delaney, Canyon-Johnson — which is based in Beverly Hills, Calif. — won’t necessarily be looking for any type of economic incentives for any potential project. Rather, the company — which has partnered with Johnson’s company to establish Starbucks Coffees, 24-Hour Fitnesses, Fatburgers and TGI Fridays all over the country — identifies available property and assists financially with the acquisition and development of the property.
While a Magic Johnson Theater isn’t a given, it is an element missing in LaVilla and the rest of downtown. With hundreds of new residents moving into the Northbank area over the next couple of years, talk is heating up over commercial developments to complement the residential boom. Many, potential residents and developers, have said that upscale restaurants and shops and a movie theater would help validate residential developers’ claims that Jacksonville is on the verge of becoming a 24-hour living and working district.
And, LaVilla — which is on the western edge of downtown between I-95 and Pearl Street — will play a key role in that evolution. Both the City and private citizens own the available land and the JEDC has established several ways for developers to take advantage of tax breaks and other economic incentives should they choose LaVilla for development. The area will also become increasingly attractive after the new $211 million county courthouse is finished some time in 2005.