The JAX Chamber is backing a proposed land swap for property for the University of Florida’s graduate campus, and it is encouraging its members to contact City Council in support of the exchange.
During a June 6 presentation to the Chamber Downtown Council, JAX Chamber President and CEO Daniel Davis said the swap would benefit the city by creating private development on the Northbank riverfront while supporting UF’s plans to begin classes at the LaVilla campus in the fall of 2025.
In the exchange, the city would provide a development parcel at the site of the former Jacksonville Landing, now called Riverfront Plaza, for the former Interline Brands Inc. building at 801 W. Bay St.
The LaVilla property is owned by the partnership carrying out the Gateway Jax project in Downtown Jacksonville, which if fully built-out would cost $2 billion.
Gateway Jax has committed to building a 17-story tower with a hotel, condos, restaurant and retail square footage and public spaces on the Riverfront Plaza site if the swap is approved.
Speaking at the Jessie Ball duPont Center in Downtown, Davis said an alternative proposal to purchase the building outright would require the city to spend more than Gateway Jax’s sale price of $6.95 million for the building.
A master plan for Riverfront Plaza called for the development to conjoin with the east half of the park, and city officials say it would cost an extra $5 million to $10 million for site work and a retaining wall that would be needed if the development pad were left empty.
“If you purchase the (Interline) building, you’re going to spend millions of dollars on it, then you’re going to spend millions of dollars to prepare a grass lot for development that, in my opinion, is going to take too long to try to work through,” Davis said.
“We need to capture the momentum that we’re seeing right now in Downtown. So instead of spending $15 million to $17 million on your lot and a piece of property, you swap it.”
Davis urged the audience of about 60 to contact Council members and encourage them to support the exchange.
Luxury hotels interested
He said another benefit of the swap is that it would help address a lack of high-end hotel space Downtown.
“I met with a luxury hotel that is very, very interested” in being on the property, he said.
Davis said the Chamber also believed the Downtown Investment Authority, the development agency for Downtown, should be granted more independence and given more staffing so developments can be approved and launched more quickly.
He said the DIA needs an in-house attorney to process incentive deals versus relying on the city Office of General Counsel, which handles legal matters for departments across city government.
“In my opinion, the process to get approval at the city level Downtown is too difficult,” he said.
Davis predicted a “land rush” coming to Downtown in the next five years, with the UF campus and developments such as Gateway Jax and the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences attracting interest from other developers.
He said it was important for the city to condense the approval process, which currently creates what he described as a funnel for development.
Actions coming
On June 10, Council is scheduled to take final action on one of two options for the city to acquire the Interline property.
Ordinance 2025-0319 would allow for the exchange, and Ordinance 2025-0339 would direct the city to purchase the Interline building.
On June 2, Council debated the pros and cons of the two alternatives.
Among supporters’ arguments, they say the swap supports the DIA’s mission of moving public property into the hands of developers and back onto the tax rolls, will help spur Downtown revitalization through a development that will attract visitors and residents, and will spin off $700,000 per year in hotel room surcharges and condo HOA fees that will provide for maintenance and programming of the park that is under construction at Riverfront Plaza.
The swap debate
Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration, the DIA, Gateway Jax and the JAX Chamber are among those backing the swap. The DIA board approved it in February on a 5-2 vote.
During the June 2 Council debate, the two DIA board members who voted against the exchange voiced their concerns. Council member Chris Miller invited authority members Cameron Hooper and Scott Wohlers to give their perspectives, with Miller saying he felt Council had heard exclusively from swap supporters and needed to learn the views of opponents.
Hooper and Wohlers both said they voted no because Gateway Jax’s proposed development on the plaza lacked details about its cost and financing. Gateway Jax principal Bryan Moll estimated at the February meeting that the project would require a $20 million completion grant and an undetermined amount of tax rebates.
The two board members and other opponents of the swap question whether the developers can pull off the project without needing substantially more incentives.
“It didn’t make sense for me to vote on a deal where I didn’t see a budget, I only saw renderings,” Hooper said, adding that other Downtown projects require far more than $20 million in completion grants.
Hooper, a real estate investment executive whose father was in the same business, said he took advice from his father in considering the issue.
“He always said, ‘Don’t be fooled by the renderings. Look into the money. Look at what actually makes the project work,’” Hooper said.
Swap supporters said the DIA process for the transfer of city-owned property to private developers doesn’t require a full pro forma on a building project upfront. Rather, that process solicits proposals from developers on how they would use the property.
When incentives are sought, the DIA requires cost and financial details on a project.
Meeting starting early
The June 10 Council meeting is scheduled to start at 4 p.m., one hour earlier than usual.
The agenda includes several items that are expected to elicit considerable discussion among Council members, such as an ordinance to prohibit the use of city money for services to people living in the U.S. illegally; a proposal calling for the Council president and vice president to be elected from among at-large members versus the entire 19-member panel; and the acquisition of the Interline building.