Fuqua Development LP's Brooklyn Retail Commercial Development final design was granted a modification Thursday by the Downtown Development Review Board of the City Office of Economic Development.
The project lost its pharmacy but gained more space for restaurants and a few more parking spaces along Riverside Avenue.
Before the meeting, Greer Scoggins, director of construction for Atlanta-based Fuqua, said the firm was unable to secure an agreement with a pharmacy chain and the company is ready to begin construction of the center.
The modification to the site plan added 12 spaces to the parking lot and reduced the size of one of the buildings on the site from 15,000 square feet to 11,270 square feet.
Making his fifth presentation on the project to the board, Chestnut Hill Investments President J.J. Conner said the new layout will improve pedestrian circulation within the center, which is to be anchored by a grocery store identified during a previous presentation as Fresh Market.
"We feel we have improved all the components of this plan," he said.
"The new layout creates an entrance into Brooklyn out of Downtown," said board member Andy Sikes.
Board member Monty Selim said he approved of the modified design because it "helps screen the parking from Riverside Avenue."
The board had criticized the design of the pharmacy building as being too "suburban" for construction in the Downtown Overlay. A workshop was conducted after conceptual approval of the site plan was granted to work with the project's architects to provide guidance from the board. The project's final design was approved July 11.
"The pharmacy was a problem all along," said board chair Tim Miller.
"We just had to be patient for the pharmacy to go away," said board member Roland Udenze.
As part of the approval process, the board granted a zoning variance to allow for a drive-thru at the proposed pharmacy.
Asked if the board was empowered to revoke the variance based on the modification of the final site plan to eliminate the pharmacy, City Assistant General Counsel Jason Teal said that the variance for the drive-thru will expire in 12 months if the use does not commence.
The board also approved the final design for the City's renovation of the Southbank Riverwalk.
Public Works Director Jim Robinson said the contract process with The Haskell Co. is complete and the demolition phase of the project is scheduled to begin in September.
The project comprises removal of the existing wood structure from Friendship Park east to the Duval County School Board property and construction of a precast concrete replacement.
Haskell Project Manager Will Inman said the concrete will be covered with brick pavers in various colors.
The design includes new floating docks, shade awnings, lighting and landscaping.
Robinson said despite the Southbank renovation being a City project, there is no public art installation in the design. The "Art in Public Places" ordinance mandates that a portion of the cost of City projects must be designated for art.
"Unlike a regular building project, this one is inherently incorporating art on its own," Robinson said.
Board member Chris Flagg, who was retained by Haskell as the project's landscape architect, said the renovation is exempt from the ordinance because "it is not a facility."
Flagg recused himself from voting on the approval, as did Udenze, an architect at Haskell.
In other business, Miller was elected to a second consecutive one-year term as the board's chair.
He appointed board members Carol Worsham and Rafael Caldera to nominate candidates for vice chair and secretary to be presented Sept. 5 at the next scheduled meeting.
(904) 356-2466
Facebook.com: Jax Daily Record