Land that the city of Jacksonville plans to provide for the University of Florida graduate campus in LaVilla has a total appraised value of more than $30 million, according a Downtown Investment Authority presentation about the campus project April 24 at City Hall.
The city plans to initially deliver five properties for the campus, including the Interline Brands Inc. building at 801 W. Bay St., which it wants to acquire via a land swap. The four properties are city-owned: two sites directly north and northeast of the historic Jacksonville Terminal train station, the station itself and the attached newer portion of the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center.
Later, the city hopes to acquire a sixth property, a site owned by multifamily developer Vestcor immediately north of the Convention Center parking lot.
DIA CEO Lori Boyer presented a slide breaking down the appraised values as follows:
• Interline Brands: $5.35 million to $6.75 million.
• Site A, the designation that the DIA has given to the parcel immediately north of the train station: $3.25 million.
• Site B, which is located across Lee Street from Site A: $1.84 million.
• Jacksonville Terminal: $1.68 million.
• Convention Center: $15.52 million.
• Vestcor lot: $2.58 million.
As with the Vestcor property, the city would need to acquire the Interline Brands Inc. building, which is owned by the Gateway Jax development partnership.
With the Vestcor lot included, the total appraised value of the city’s contributions to the campus would range from $30.22 million to $31.62 million.
The five initial properties total 23.24 acres. With the Vescor lot, the total rises to 25.28 acres.
In addition, City Council has approved $50 million in funding for the project and Mayor Donna Deegan has pledged another $50 million.
The April 24 presentation drew Council members Ron Salem, Ju’Coby Pittman, Jimmy Peluso, Nick Howland, Reggie Gaffney Jr. and Terrance Freeman, plus assistants for other Council members, DIA board members, top Deegan aides and others.
In addition to Boyer, presenters were Mori Hosseini, chair of the UF board of trustees; and UF administrators David Norton, vice president of research; Dwan Courtney, director of the Office of Small Business Relations; and Kurt Dudas, vice president for strategic initiatives for UF.
Howland drew attention to the appraisal of the Jacksonville Terminal, saying it seemed “incredibly low for that historic building in that part of the city.”
Boyer said the station is mostly empty space except for a modest number of administrative offices, and its uses are limited because of protections it receives through its designation as a historic structure. The use limitations lower its appraised value, she said.
Dudas said the station would be the “core of the campus” and would be adapted to offer retail, food and beverage establishments for students and the public. In addition, it would complement the city’s long-range plans to reestablish passenger rail service to Downtown via Brightline, Amtrak or another option.
The city has reserved a parcel immediately south of the convention center that would support passenger rail service.
Under the DIA timeline, legislation for the five initial properties would be submitted to Council on May 27 on a course for final action June 24.
UF hopes to begin classes in the fall of 2025 in the Interline Brands building, for which it plans a $7 million retrofit.
For that property, the DIA board approved an exchange of a 1-acre development parcel in Riverfront Plaza and an adjacent lot to the east. The swap will be part of the legislation that DIA will submit to Council.
Council member Ron Salem has introduced an alternative option to buy the Interline Brands property for up to $8 million.
UF’s offerings at the Jacksonville campus include master’s degrees in science and management, engineering management, computer science, architecture. Other master’s programs will provide a law degree aimed at non-attorneys who work in fields that interact extensively with the law, such as compliance and human resources, use of artificial intelligence in biomedical and health sciences.
The university also will offer professional one- and two-year master’s of business administration degrees.
UF expects enrollment to start at 85 students in the 2025-26, when architecture and MBA courses will begin, and climb to 685 over the next four years. The university’s goal is to draw 1,500 students by 2030.
Plans call for $300 million investment in capital outlays during the first phase of the project. The first new buildings are planned on Site A and Site B and would total 330,000 square feet.
Phase 2 would add a 213,000-square-foot student housing building with 600 beds, and the remaining campus would be built west of the train station on the site of the newer portion of the convention center, which would be razed, along with the convention center parking lot and the Vestcor property. The fully built-out campus would have 1.6 million feet of space.
UF officials said they were moving quickly with their plans, with Dudas saying openings were being posted for faculty positions for the Jacksonville campus. Hosseini said he had told the university’s deans to begin preparing programs they hope to offer in Jacksonville “because before you know it, it will be too late and we won’t have enough room for you.”
“Lots of your sister cities and counties are jealous of you, because UF is coming to Jax,” Hosseini told Council members. “You should see the number of calls I get trying to entice us, and I say, “Guys, it’s too late.’”
