The city of Jacksonville is a step closer to providing the final piece of public property sought by the University of Florida for its Downtown graduate campus after action July 16 by the Downtown Investment Authority board.
The board voted 7-0 to recommend a land swap agreement to obtain an undeveloped 2.04-acre lot along West Bay Street that would be conveyed to UF for the LaVilla campus.
The Bay Street lot, surrounded on three sides by the grounds and parking lot of the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, is owned by multifamily developer Vestcor Inc.
Under the exchange approved by the DIA board, the city would provide Vestcor with municipally owned property at 200 N. Lee St., four blocks north of the Vestcor parcel and near Interstate 95.
The board’s vote on the exchange does not constitute final action, as approval from the Jacksonville City Council is required.
With Council approval, the DIA would put the Lee Street property up for disposition, a state-mandated, competitive process for placing public property in private hands.
If no qualified proposals other than the Vestcor exchange are received, or if the alternative proposals are determined by the DIA to be lower in value or unresponsive to the terms, the DIA can finalize negotiations with the developer for the exchange.
The finalized agreement also would require Council approval.
In June, the Jacksonville City Council approved an ordinance providing five properties and two equal tranches of $50 million in city funding to UF for the campus. That legislation also offered up to $5 million for the university to purchase the Vestcor-owned property nestled in the convention center parking lot.
Under the DIA-approved swap, Vestcor would receive the westernmost 2.4 acres of the 3.63-acre city-owned parcel at 200 N. Lee St.
Vestcor, as a condition of the exchange, agreed to demolish a building on the Lee Street site that is used for light manufacturing and printing.
In May 2025, the DIA board approved a buyout of the lease of the business operating there.
According to city documents, the Vestcor lot along Bay Street is valued at $2.58 million. Combined with the other sites involved in the UF agreement, it would push the appraised value of city-owned land involved in the deal to $30.2 million to $31.62 million.
The land swap would be the second for the UF campus.
In June, Council approved an ordinance directing the city to exchange a development pad at the former Jacksonville Landing site, now called Riverfront Plaza, plus an option on an adjacent parcel for the former Interline Brands Inc. building at 801 W. Bay St.
That property’s owner, the Gateway Jax development partnership, agreed to build a 17-story tower on the Riverfront Plaza site as part of the exchange. That development would include a hotel, condos, restaurants, retail and public spaces.