Amid speculation that the city of Jacksonville is preparing incentives to attract the Culinary Institute of America to the Downtown riverfront as part of a proposed hotel, an alumnus of the New York-based private school said April 10 that the initiative is in motion.
Dennis Chan, who graduated from the CIA in 2000 after two years of study at its main campus, said institute President Michiel Bakker met with city leaders and local alumni over the past several months to explore opening a site in Jacksonville.
Chan said the institute was part of the hotel project, which is proposed by Jacksonville-based Corner Lot in partnership with Aspect Real Estate Group.
Chan, who calls himself a cheerleader for the institute and its plans to expand to Jacksonville, requested support from the city Tourist Development Council for the initiative and has continued to advocate for it after he and other CIA alumni met with Bakker in the fall of 2025.
“It would bring culinary tourism to Jacksonville, and we simply don’t have that,” said Chan, who founded Blue Bamboo Canton Bistro in 2005 and continues to operate it today at 10110 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin.
“Also, some of the campuses will do continuing education classes, which will bring people to Jacksonville from the region.”
In late 2025, city Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry said there had been preliminary discussions between the CIA and city leaders.
The proposed hotel, which is planned at the site of the demolished Duval County Courthouse at 330 E. Bay St., is the latest indication that the CIA is interested in establishing a teaching facility in Jacksonville.
Documents released April 1 by the Downtown Investment Authority said tenants of the project would include what it called Project Caymus, which it identified as an academic institution that would operate culinary demonstration and teaching kitchen facilities and offer professional development and continuing education programs.
In response to a public records request for Project Caymus and the Culinary Institute of America, the city said both were subject to a state law allowing governments to withhold information on economic development projects.
Chan said Jacksonville-based Corner Lot, the developer of the proposed hotel and school, was the catalyst in establishing talks with the CIA.
In addition to the original Hyde Park, New York, location, the institute operates two campuses in California’s Wine Country, one in San Antonio and one in Singapore.
Chan said the San Antonio campus would most closely resemble the Jacksonville operation. The 30,000-square-foot school is in the renovated Pearl Brewing Co. facility near the San Antonio Riverwalk.
Bakker told city leaders the project would need state, local and community support for an endowed scholarship, Chan said.
Chan said he enrolled at the main CIA campus in Hyde Park sight-unseen after his uncle, a culinary instructor at a community college in Minnesota, told him it was the world’s leading instructional institution for chefs. Today, he is among a select group of graduates featured on the CIA’s alumni page.
The institute was founded in 1946 and says on its website it has produced more than 55,000 graduates. In an October 2025 report, Forbes said the CIA is “known as the Harvard of the culinary world” and “draws students from all over the globe for its best-of-the-best reputation.”
The late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain is among its alumni.
On April 1, the DIA released a document identifying Corner Lot and Aspect Real Estate Group as the only respondents to a notice of disposition for a 0.8-acre portion of the 2.6-acre property at 330 E. Bay St. Disposition is a process by which city-owned property is transferred to the private sector for redevelopment.
The partnership proposal comprises two buildings, including a 14-story tower with a hotel and conference center, as well as a restaurant and retail space facing Bay Street. The other building would include food and beverage uses on the ground floor topped by three floors of Class A office space.
In the 14-story tower, the second and third levels would include 17,000 square feet of conference space, including a divisible grand ballroom designed to accommodate events of up to 600 attendees.
Levels four through 14 would include 160 hotel rooms. Plans show pool decks on the fourth and fifth floors, plus a covered outdoor lounge, clubroom and fitness center on the fifth floor.
The Culinary Institute of America did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Andy Allen, CEO of Corner Lot, also did not immediately respond when asked for comment.