The Church of Eleven22 has signed a long-term agreement to upgrade and obtain exclusive use of the Glass Factory event space near Downtown Jacksonville, the owner of the building said April 20.
Tyler Saldutti, who has owned the renovated Rail Yard District event center since 2020, said the church planned to install new audiovisual equipment and make other capital improvements to the 90-year-old building at 601 N. Myrtle Ave.
Saldutti, founder and CEO of Prime Realty, said the church plans to hold religious services and stage Christian-oriented events in the Glass Factory.
Saldutti said he began looking for a strategic partner to upgrade the facility about six months ago. He said he spoke with production companies and then to the church, which incorporates video, music and concert-style lighting into its services and special events.
Those talks led to the 10-year deal for the Glass Factory.
Saldutti said that under the church’s stewardship, the 24,000-square-foot facility will be “more consistently activated” after six years of being the site of weddings, charity galas and entertainment that included live comedy shows, variety shows and burlesque.
“Now it will be at least weekly events and probably more,” he said.
The church did not immediately return calls and text messages for comment.
Financial terms of the agreement have not been divulged.
Saldutti purchased the building in January 2020, 30 days before the first closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and upgraded it with a new roof and other improvements.
He said the church activities would benefit the Rail Yard District, an industrial area west of Interstate 95 and Downtown that dates to the 1850s as a railroad junction.
Other nearby businesses include Myrtle Avenue Brewing at 633 N. Myrtle Ave., which shares a parking lot with the Glass Factory, and Dennis + Ives, a coworking space at 1505 Dennis St. where the first phase of an adaptive reuse project was completed in 2025.
The Suddath Cos. purchased property near the Glass Factory, and Saldutti said he expects that the former Load King Manufacturing Co. campus at 1357 W. Beaver St. will be redeveloped.
Load King, which designed branded kiosks and restaurant and store interiors for franchises and companies, closed in 2025 and put its property up for sale.
“This will be the coolest church in town because it will have a brewery connected to it,” Saldutti said.
The Church of Eleven22 website says Lead Pastor Joby Martin founded the church in Jacksonville in 2012. Its main campus is at 14286 Beach Blvd. off San Pablo Road. Eleven22 is a reference to Mark chapter 11, verse 22 in the New Testament of the Bible.
According to Duval County Property Appraiser records, the Glass Factory was built in 1936.