The Downtown Investment Authority board voted April 15 to start negotiations on a transfer of city-owned Northbank property to developers of a hotel that reportedly includes a Jacksonville campus for the Culinary Institute of America.
Board members voted 8-0 to start a 180-day negotiating period with a partnership of Jacksonville-based Corner Lot and Aspect Real Estate Group on the riverfront property at 330 E. Bay St. Member Trevor Lee was not present.
In January, the DIA issued a notice of disposition for a 0.8-acre portion of the 2.6-acre property, which has been vacant since the demolition of the Duval County Courthouse in 2019.
Corner Lot and Aspect presented the only response to the notice and proposed a $160 million mixed-use project comprising 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.
Disposition is the process by which the city puts publicly owned property in the hands of private developers, placing it back on the tax rolls.
Documents released April 1 by the DIA 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.
Jacksonville restaurateur Dennis Chan, who graduated in 2000 from the New York-based CIA after two years of study at its main campus, said in an April 10 interview that plans were in motion for a Jacksonville campus and were part of the Northbank hotel project.
Chan 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 founded Blue Bamboo Canton Bistro in 2005 and continues to operate it at 10110 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin. He said Bakker indicated the institute would require state, city and private support to open the Jacksonville campus.
Questions about feasibility
DIA CEO Colin Tarbert said Project Caymus would be the hotel development’s anchor tenant and a keystone in its financial feasibility. Without it, he said, “the project probably doesn’t work.”
No incentive requests for the project have come forward. Tarbert said the project was at the conceptual stage, and the financing still was being determined.
“It’s all about the capital stack,” he said of the project’s feasibility, saying that as developers identify sources for funding, “we can see if we can get to a ratio congruent with our public investment policy.”
Before the DIA board’s vote, members questioned whether the project would require public funding in excess of DIA limits.
Board member Cameron Hooper, noting that the developers were projecting construction costs at $700 per square foot, said the “economics of the deal make this very difficult.” Hooper said he had hoped to see costs around $400 per square foot, which would reduce the need for public subsidies. He said the higher costs were likely due to the complexities of building in the small footprint.
He recommended providing the entire 2.6 acres to the project, which he said would allow for lower construction costs and create more revenue potential, which would reduce the need for incentives.
Hooper and other board members said they hoped the negotiations would result in a workable agreement.
“I encourage Colin and his team and developers’ team to really wear down your pencils, because there’s a lot of work to be done here,” board Chair Patrick Krechowski said. “I’d like to see it back here in six months.”
‘Harvard of the culinary world’
The Culinary Institute of America was not mentioned during the meeting. Early in the discussion, a representative from the city Office of General Counsel said Project Caymus was the subject of a nondisclosure agreement.
The institute did not respond to a request for comment.
Founded in 1946 in Hyde Park, New York, the institute says on its website it has produced more than 55,000 graduates.
In an October 2025 report, Forbes said the institute 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.
Chan is among a select group of alumni featured on the institute’s website.
He said Corner Lot was the catalyst in establishing talks with the institute and described himself as a cheerleader for the project. His involvement included requesting support from the city Tourist Development Council for the initiative.
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.