by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The JEDC is asking the City Council to loosen the purse strings on the Historic Preservation Trust Fund for the first time since the City began to rethink the way it encourages historic redevelopment.
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission has already approved Kimmick Corporation to receive a $400,000 grant from the fund, which has sat untouched for the past three months. The money, which still requires Council approval, would help turn the Lerner Building at 20 West Adams St. into loft apartments and commercial space. In June the City replenished the nearly empty fund with $3 million from an aborted development deal on Laura Street.
Having gained temporary relief from a zero balance, the JEDC began to reevaluate the way it handled the fund. The review is still underway, but in broad terms the City wants to ensure the money is invested into projects that return the most and wants to dole out the fund in loans instead of grants.
But after sitting out the downtown development game for more than three months, the fund’s first trip off the bench is in the familiar form of a grant. Council member Suzanne Jenkins, whose district includes downtown, said Kimmick applied for the money under the fund’s previous criteria. It would be unfair to change the rules in the middle of the game, she said.
“The purpose of the fund has always been to help developers downtown,” she said. “It’s not fair to the developer to have them apply under one set of criteria, then renegotiate and ask for a do-over once they get to the end of the process.”
The fund’s new guidelines were still under construction, she pointed out. The Downtown Development Authority is expected to give recommendations on the fund at next month’s meeting. It’s not yet a formal guideline, but the City wants to spend the trust fund to encourage residential development.
Once new policies are set in concrete, Jenkins said she expects the guidelines to set priorities for what kind of historical development pays the greatest dividends. She said she expects loans to become the rule and grants the exception, a policy she favors.
“The Council would certainly like to see more loans than grants,” she said.
Even if the City loans the money at terms favorable to the developers — extended repayment periods and low interest rates — a policy favoring loans would help keep the fund flush, she said.
“Loans are to everyone’s advantage, because if we’re able to replenish the fund then the money will be there for the City to continue to encourage historical development. And it will be there for developers who want to do those kind of projects,” she said.
The Lerner Building sits across Adams Street from Vestcor’s Carlington project. The City contributed $17 million to the developer’s renovation of the former Roosevelt Hotel into apartments. The Lerner would add to the area’s development momentum, said Jenkins.