Overcoming concerns among some Jacksonville City Council members about payments coming due for incentives for Downtown redevelopment projects, the owners of a long-vacant property near City Hall prevailed May 27 in obtaining a grant to revive the building.
Council voted 14-4 in favor of Ordinance 2025-0183, which provides a $2.56 million incentive package to transform the three-story building at 225 N. Laura St. into a ground-floor restaurant with eight short-term rental units on the top two floors.
The building’s majority owners are Alan and Ellen Cottrill of Avant Construction Group. Rafael and Carmen Godwin, who purchased the property in 2022, maintain a minority interest. Avant, which specializes in historic renovations, is the general contractor for the project.
The incentive package, approved under the DIA’s Downtown Preservation and Revitalization Program, comprises the following:
• A Historic Preservation Restoration and Rehabilitation forgivable loan of up to $1.283 million.
• A Code Compliance Renovations forgivable loan of up to $765,000.
• A Deferred Principal loan of up to $512,000.
The 6,492-square-foot building is identified in city documents as Juliette Balcony, a reference to the decorative railings on the windows of its upper floors.
The structure was built three years after the Great Fire of 1901. It is between Chamblin’s Uptown and the closed Mag’s Cafe.
According to a summary of the ordinance, the restored building would include 1,750 square feet of restaurant and commercial retail space, with studio apartments on the upper floors.
During earlier discussions in Council committees, members questioned the source of the funding and expressed opposition for drawing it from the city general fund, which provides for services citywide. DPRP incentives often come from that fund.
Some Council members, predominantly Will Lahnen and Nick Howland, have cautioned that a growing number of general fund-supported grants are straining the city budget.
On May 27, DIA staff member Steve Kelley had found a funding source that is controlled by the DIA and outside of the general fund. That source was the DIA’s Downtown Economic Development Fund, which contained money that had been committed in 2021 to redevelopment of the Laura Street Trio of historic buildings at Laura and Forsyth streets. That project did not move forward.
Lahnen said general-fund payments coming due in the 2026-27 fiscal year for incentives total $70 million. He signaled support for taking the $2.56 million requested for Juliette Balcony and applying it instead toward paying the $70 million in commitments.
Lahnen voted against the incentives for Juliette Balcony, as did members Rory Diamond, Terrance Freeman and Chris Miller.
Yes votes came from President Randy White, Vice President Kevin Carrico and members Ken Amaro, Raul Arias, Joe Carlucci, Matt Carlucci, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Ju’Coby Pittman, Nick Howland, Reggie Gaffney Jr. Mike Gay, Rahman Johnson, Jimmy Peluso and Ron Salem.
Member Michael Boylan was on an excused absence, celebrating his wedding anniversary.
Matt Carlucci said he trusted that Council finance staff and members of the Finance Committee would find an appropriate funding source for the project, which he supported.
“We’ve been talking about the value of bringing our core alive and this project is a step toward making that happen,” he said.
Howland said that although he supported the incentives, he wanted to know from DIA where it might have other money within its budgets. He said given that the Council controls the purse strings, it should have a full account of where city funds are being kept.
“We need to know where all those bundles of money are buried,” he said.
The DPRP was created by the DIA and approved by City Council to spur redevelopment of historic properties. As opposed to other programs, which require the city to obtain at least $1 of tax revenue from each $1 of incentive, the DPRP allows for a return on investment of 50 cents per dollar.
That element of the program reflects the complexities involved in redeveloping older buildings and bringing them up to modern code, which generally costs more than new construction or restoration of newer buildings.
Avant’s restoration and adaptive reuse projects Downtown include the historic Seminole Club for Sweet Pete’s, the Federal Reserve Building, the Porter House Mansion and Hardwicks Bar. Projects in progress include the historic Greenleaf & Crosby Building and the Jones Bros. Furniture Co. building.