After hearing concerns that the latest deal to redevelop the historic Laura Street Trio of buildings in Downtown Jacksonville could expose the city to hundreds of millions of dollars in debt liability and trigger a downgrading of the city’s credit rating, the Jacksonville City Council voted Jan. 4 to send an incentives package for the project back to the Downtown Investment Authority for further development and vetting.
The vote came during what was scheduled to be the first of two full-Council meetings aimed at fast-tracking the incentives, sought by SouthEast Development Group to fuel a $175.1 million project to transform the historic buildings into a hotel, apartments and restaurant.
