A third of a proposed $45 million fund to incentivize residential development along the Downtown Northbank could be redirected for workforce development, affordable housing and other uses under action by Jacksonville City Council members over two days beginning June 16.
Three Council committees approved amendments to Ordinance 2025-0385, which would create the Downtown Riverfront Residential Incentives Contingency Fund to spur redevelopment along the Bay Street corridor in the historic core of Downtown.
Those amendments reduced the fund to $30 million.
The $15 million reduction would go to countywide projects, including $3 million to develop affordable housing and $12 million for workforce development and other potential uses.
Under an amendment from Council vice president-elect Nick Howland, all three portions of the funding would not be limited to the Downtown incentives, affordable housing or workforce development. Howland said his amendment was designed to give Council flexibility to address priorities and budget limitations as it prepares to begin hearings in July on the city’s 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
Subject to further approval
Detailed plans have yet to be developed for either the $3 million or $12 million portions of the funding. That money would be set aside as contingencies, awaiting formal proposals for how to allot it. Those plans would require Council approvals on a two-thirds majority vote.
Council member Joe Carlucci introduced the ordinance. The $45 million would be transferred from a surplus in the city’s reserve funding for workers’ compensation claims.
Carlucci’s legislation emerged from the Council Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, which was formed in 2024 to explore ways to speed the Downtown revitalization effort.
The chair of that committee, Council President-elect Kevin Carrico, said Carlucci’s legislation was designed to help spur development in the space between the Sports and Entertainment District and the proposed University of Florida graduate campus in LaVilla. Carrico referred to those areas as the “two pillars of Downtown.”
The Northbank fund would apply to several properties near the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront hotel.
They include the sites where the former Duval County Courthouse, City Hall Annex, Berkman II, and Jacksonville Landing parking lot were demolished.
Dividing the $45 million
Carrico said he encouraged Carlucci to allow the $45 million to be split between the Bay Street properties and other uses that would benefit the county at large.
At one point, the ordinance was amended to apply $5 million to affordable housing and $10 million to workforce development.
Council member Raul Arias offered an amendment to reduce the $5 million portion to $2 million and use the remainder for workforce development and other needs. Arias said his goal was to address a critical need for workforce development in trades like plumbing and heating and air conditioning while allowing the city to pursue matching funding for affordable housing through a partnership initiative that includes the Community Foundation of Northeast Florida.
The Council Finance; Rules; and Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety committees all approved the ordinance with amendments.
The legislation is next scheduled to go before the full Council on June 24.