The Gateway Jax development partnership is seeking conceptual approval from the Downtown Development Review Board for designs of its Block N7 project to replace the former First Baptist Church main auditorium.
The Downtown Development Review Board is scheduled to consider the designs at its Aug. 14 meeting.
Plans for the site, at 119 W. Beaver St., include a 15-story apartment tower with about 250 units, six levels of parking and a 32,000-square-foot grocery store in 39,000 total square feet of retail. Renderings show retail space along Union, Beaver and Laura streets. The block is bordered by those three streets, along with Hogan Street.
Two levels of parking are directly above the grocery store and designated for the store’s use. Other parking levels are for the residential units.
Plans also show an expanded sidewalk on Laura Street and trees and landscaping along Laura, Beaver and Hogan streets.
Block N7 is part of the Gateway Jax’s Pearl Square District, a $500 million mixed-used development in Jacksonville’s NorthCore. Gateway Jax is a partnership between principal Bryan Moll, JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital.
In 2022, JWB and Corner Lot spent nearly $750,000 to prepare the auditorium for “Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.” The space later hosted the “Beyond King Tut” exhibit.
Corner Lot CEO Andy Allen said in 2022 they named the auditorium NoCo Center after Downtown’s North Core.
The Daily Record reported that Corner Lot and JWB Real Estate Capital bought the 103,016-square-foot auditorium built in 1995 and the adjoining parking garage as a joint venture in 2022.
Property records show 712 Hogan Street North LLC bought the auditorium for $2.3 million through 119 Beaver Street West LLC and paid $6.09 million for the adjoining parking garage.
State records list Bryan Moll, principal of the Gateway Jax development team, as a title member of 119 Beaver St W LLC.
In December 2024, the Downtown Investment Authority board endorsed a $2.1 million incentive package aimed at incorporating the grocery store into the Block N7 project. The vote came on a resolution comprising a $1.36 million Retail Enhancement Program grant and a $741,000 Recapture Enhanced Value Grant.
The DIA’s vote constituted final action on the incentives, with Jacksonville City Council approval not required.
Gateway Jax’s plans for the Pearl Square district have grown from five properties and a $419 million investment to nine properties and a cost of $750 million, according to the developer, since the development was unveiled in 2023.
The partnership has since amassed more than 20 Downtown properties which, if fully developed, would involve an investment of more than $2 billion.
The DDRB meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the main Jacksonville Public Library, 303 N. Laura St.