With a permit granted Aug. 6, the buyer of The Residences at Barnett 18-story building Downtown can add third-floor amenity space for its tenants at 112 W. Adams St.
The city issued a permit for Jacksonville-based Avant Construction Group to build-out the $750,000 project.
Plans show a kitchen and bar, fitness center, stretch and mobility space, billiards, rentable storage, laundry area, media lounge, conference and cowork uses, a lounge, leasing and offices, and a podcast room, along with mechanical and other space.
Group 4 Design Inc., also based in Jacksonville, is the architect and interior designer.
A second phase is designed as the conversion of two more floors for apartments, a plan that ownership pledged upon the purchase of the building.
Through BMG Barnett LLC, Indiana-based Becovic Management Group owns The Barnett, which includes 11 stories totaling 107 apartments from the eighth through 18th floors. The second through seventh floors are occupied or available for lease to office tenants.
Second-phase plans show that the Residences will add 18 apartments with nine each on the sixth and seventh floors.
Ground-floor cafe
The amenities permit follows one issued July 21 for 1926 Coffee Co. on the ground floor that will bring coffee and pastries to the historic building in the city’s urban core.
Avant will renovate the 646-square-foot space at a project cost of $95,000. Group 4 Design is the architect and interior designer.
Becovic Management posted on social media the space will operate as the 1926 Coffee Co. to bring “handcrafted coffee, signature drinks and a unique experience to one of Jacksonville’s most iconic landmarks.”
In posts on LinkedIn and Instagram, Becovic Management Group said the cafe’s name pays tribute to the building’s origins. Although Duval County Property Appraiser records show the Barnett was built in 1923, other references show it as being constructed in 1926.
A website for the cafe, 1926coffee.com, lists it as “coming soon” to the Barnett building. It is labeled as “Craft coffee rooted in history. Brewed in the iconic Barnett Building.”
The Barnett purchase
In December 2025, Becovic Management Group bought the Barnett National Bank Building for $15.63 million from Barnett Tower 2 LLC, which is affiliated with SouthEast Development Group.
The deed stated existing leases with JPMorgan Chase Bank and the University of North Florida.
SouthEast and Las Vegas-based Molasky Group of Cos. renovated the Barnett building into The Residences at Barnett in 2018.
In 2017, the building owner applied for a permit for almost $22.4 million to transform the structure.
Joshua Roberts, director of acquisitions for BMG, said Dec. 4, 2025, that the building was not fully renovated.
He said Becovic planned to finish it by completing the planned amenities center on the third floor and building-out two other floors.
Laura Street Trio
Privately held Becovic Management Group also owns The Laura Street Trio of historic buildings near The Barnett.
Becovic placed the winning bid of $125,100 to take over the three buildings Aug. 5 in a court-ordered foreclosure auction.
“We are pleased to confirm our acquisition of Jacksonville’s historic Laura Street Trio through the auction process,” read a statement issued after the sale by Becovic owner and President Muhamed Becovic.
The sale stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the city of Jacksonville in November 2024 against Laura Trio LLC and Red Oak Capital Fund II LLC.
The city alleged Laura Trio LLC, which is affiliated with Trio owner SouthEast Development Group, owed $827,500 in fines for municipal code violations.
At the time, the mortgage on the three buildings was assigned to BMG Trio LLC from ROCF II Series, a series of Red Oak Capital Fund Series LLC.
In February 2026, Becovic Management Group positioned itself to acquire the buildings when it took over the mortgage for the property after its late 2025 purchase of the Barnett building across Laura Street from the Trio.
Before Becovic purchased the Barnett building, it announced it also planned to purchase and renovate the Trio with an adaptive reuse of all three buildings and new construction on the site.
Muhamed Becovic said in a July 22 phone interview that his intention remained to redevelop the Trio with uses that include hospitality, food and beverage, and residential.
In his Aug. 5 statement, he said the acquisition was “a historic milestone” for his company and family, “one that we are proud to carry forward with a deep sense of responsibility and purpose.”
The Trio comprises the Florida Life Insurance, Bisbee and Marble Bank buildings at northeast Laura and Forsyth streets. The buildings, which have been vacant for decades, were among the first built after the 1901 fire that destroyed much of Jacksonville.
The three buildings are shielded by historic preservation protections under two separate classifications, having been identified as local historic landmarks and listed as contributing structures within the federally designated Downtown Jacksonville Historic District.