by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
An Edgewood Avenue developer’s request Thursday for City help with a strip-mall expansion prompted Jacksonville Economic Development Commission commissioners to consider their role in encouraging development in disadvantaged areas.
The JEDC approved unanimously an incentive package, including a $120,000 City grant, to help Edward Farhat expand his Northwest Jacksonville shopping center. The commissioners were initially skeptical of the deal. Several members said the project was too expensive, considering its uncertain effect on the local job market.
“This project is pushing it,” said Commissioner Brad Glass.
As a strip shopping center, the development’s ability to create jobs would depend on tenants and would be difficult to track, said Commissioner Charles Appleby. Job creation is typically a primary JEDC measurement of a project’s success. The project’s approval depended on an amendment that required Farhat to repay the City if job creation fell short.
Glass asked whether the City should incentivize strip centers. He said the project highlighted the need for the commission to establish clear development priorities as the City considers the future of its incentive program. Mayor John Peyton instructed the commissioners at last month’s meeting to figure out what and where the City should develop and then work consistently toward those objectives. The commissioners will begin that process during an April 2, workshop.
When that meeting arrives, City Council member Mia Jones asked the commissioners to consider ways to incentivize development in the City’s disadvantaged areas. Although a strip shopping center was not the ideal project, Jones conceded, any development in the area would be a boost.
“I drive down Edgewood, and what I see is very close to blight,” said Jones, whose district includes Farhat’s store. “We cannot forget the taxpayers in these areas, and the small business owners who will be providing jobs that are not available in those areas.”
Although the City ideally targets high-paying jobs with its incentives, Jones said the retail jobs created on Edgewood were needed.
“Eight to 10 dollars an hour is doing good when you don’t have a job,” said Jones. “It’s a step in the right direction.”
With the grant approved, Farhat said he was ready to proceed with the million–dollar expansion, pending City Council approval of the incentive package. Farhat said the incentives were necessary to encourage investment in the City’s disadvantaged areas.
“The area has been depressed for years and years,” said Farhat. “I took a risk to invest there 18 years ago, and I’m taking a risk now. I’ll rent the space for $8 a square- foot, and I’ll be lucky to get that. I could invest the same amount of money downtown and get $16 a square-foot.”