A revised plan from Trevato Development Group for the mixed-use redevelopment of the former Allstate Campus office park in South Jacksonville is headed to the Jacksonville City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee after being approved Oct. 9 by the Planning Commission.
The commission voted 7-0 to recommend rezoning the campus, called The Pondry, from Commercial Office to Planned Unit Development to allow for the redevelopment. Commissioner Ali Marar was not present and one seat on the nine-member board is vacant.
Trevato bought the property south of Butler Boulevard at San Pablo Road South from Allstate for $20 million in May 2024. The 29.77-acre site includes two office buildings that would remain.
It is the developer’s third plan for the property.
The first proposal, with a total of 250 residential units and retail space, met with protests by neighbors and was struck down by Council a year ago.
After the failed vote, Trevato submitted plans for a 470-unit apartment community that included affordable units. Those plans, under the Live Local Act, did not need Council approval.
The latest Trevato plan, filed with rezoning Ordinance 2025-0673, includes retail space, a hotel with a maximum of 200 keys, and townhomes and rowhouses with a maximum of 180 units.
In the new proposal, 150 of the residential units will be south of the middle entry drive, which splits the property between the retail and hotel space, and those residential units. Thirty of the residential units will be north of the middle entry drive, but separated from the hotel and retail spaces by a driveway.
The city Planning and Development Department said it found enough differences between Trevato’s first plan and its latest application to recommend approval. The Planning Department and the Planning Commission had both recommended approval of the first plan last year.
The Planning Department said separation of residential units from the rest of the property ensures “compatibility without adverse impacts.” It recommended the developer undertake a traffic study, which the Planning Commission approved.
Steve Diebenow, the attorney representing Trevato Development Group, said Oct. 6 that he did not expect opposition to the developer’s latest proposal. It brought no protest during the Planning Commission meeting.
That would be in contrast to the reaction to Trevato’s first plan, with neighbors appearing before Council with concerns that the development would create heavy traffic congestion and that the density of its residential component was incompatible with its surroundings.
The new plan has 70 fewer homes than the first, but it does have a hotel. Trevato included a hotel in the original plan but eliminated it after meeting with neighbors before the Council vote.
Attorney Paul Harden represented the opposition to The Pondry redevelopment last year.
He said then that the south end of the site used as parking is a buffer to the area to the south, which now includes the gated Pablo Creek Reserve community with “$4 million to $5 million homes” in that area.
Developed by The PARC Group on land owned by the Davis family, the community comprises 270 home sites on more than 400 acres.
The ParcGroup.net site says that “The Pablo Creek Reserve is an exclusive, gated residential community, comprising an enclave of inspired homes in a sanctuary-like woodland environment located in Jacksonville, Florida.”
“The opposition is to changing a fully developed commercial project that was there and in place when they built their homes and built the golf course,” Harden said.
Council struck down the first proposal 17-2, with members Tyrona Clark-Murray and Jimmy Peluso voting against the denial.
Per city ordinance, once a measure has been voted down by Council, it cannot come before Council for another year.
