by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Will the Parks at the Cathedral, one of downtown’s most successful housing ventures, go ahead with plans to build Phase 2? It depends on who you ask.
The development’s sales staff says no. They were told by marketers for Phase 2 that “the second phase wasn’t happening.”
The City says yes. At least as far as its agreement with the Episcopal Church, which owns the land, and developer Renaissance Design Build Group of Jacksonville is concerned.
The developer isn’t talking. Renaissance missed a deadline to notify the City by July 1 of its plans. President Carlton Jones didn’t return phone calls.
The project began as a joint venture among the City, original developer Bank of America Community Redevelopment Corp. and the St. John’s Cathedral, the big Episcopal church on downtown’s highest point at the top of Market Street. The church donated land valued at half a million, the City put in $3 million in incentives and Bank of America agreed to keep the units affordable.
The 51-townhouse development bordered by Ashley, Church, Market and Liberty streets revealed the potential for affordable, for-sale housing downtown by quickly selling out units starting at about $135,000. But plans to build an additional 12 units have faced a rocky road since the first phase opened in 2002. Now sales staff say they were told by those in charge of marketing Phase 2 “that the second phase wasn’t happening,”
A lack of infrastructure in the area has been a point of contention between the City and developer.
Parks management has complained about insufficient drainage in the area and construction on Phase 1 was delayed at one point when construction turned up bodies once buried at an old cemetery.
Despite those hurdles, Phase 2 looked to be on track when Renaissance took over development responsibility in November. Jones said then that he planned for Phase 2 to be built but the City has heard little about those plans recently. The JEDC expected written confirmation of Renaissance’s plans by July 1. Instead, the developer and its consultant scheduled a meeting with the JEDC and mayor’s office representatives for July 18.
JEDC interim Executive Director Jeanne Miller said the City would hold the Cathedral and the developer to the terms of the 1999 development agreement. If Phase 2 isn’t built, the City could try to reclaim about $400,000 spent during Phase 1 construction to move the bodies from the old cemetery and to finance a mortgage forgiveness program for low-income homeowners in the development.
“The City is definitely owed money,” said Miller. “We are working with the developer and expect Phase 2 to move forward. If not we will enforce the terms of the redevelopment agreement.”
Whether or not the units are built, the redevelopment agreement will need to be reworked. If Phase 2 is scuttled, the agreement’s language will have to be changed to call for 51 units instead of 63. If construction is going to continue, the deadlines will have to be changed. The agreement currently calls for delivery of Phase 2 in 2002. Changes will need approval from the JEDC and the City Council.
The Parks at the Cathedral’s second phase is significant because it would maintain development momentum in the area said Ray Rodriguez, president of the Real Estate Strategy Center of Northeast Florida.
“It will be a slight hindrance in reaching the mayor’s goal of 11,000 housing units downtown,” said Rodriguez.
But the real impact could be felt in the affordable segment of downtown’s housing market, said Rodriguez. The condominiums are the only housing available in the urban core with sales prices below market rates. As more luxury and market-rate development is planned and built in and around downtown, the market will need balance from affordable units, he said.