A portion of the former Duval County Courthouse property along the Downtown Northbank could be redeveloped under a plan in motion by the Downtown Investment Authority.
The DIA issued a notice of disposition and is accepting proposals from developers 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 provided to the private sector for redevelopment.
The DIA board voted in December 2025 to authorize staff to issue the notice of disposition for the western third of the property subject to a final review. That review came during the board’s Jan. 21 meeting, when it allowed staff to proceed with the notice.
DIA CEO Colin Tarbert told board members that he believed the site could be used for a hotel, residential or mixed-use development.
He said the DIA wants steel-and-concrete construction on the property, not a pedestal-style building in which wood framing tops a concrete parking garage or other base.
Some board members questioned the strategy of offering a portion of the lot, which in the past was marketed as The Ford on Bay.
“Do we think that we are hindering the total development by doing this smaller piece and making it pretty much the most costly type of construction?” member Cameron Hooper asked. “That might hinder where we could be in four years or something when the market is hopefully improved.”
Tarbert said the DIA developed the idea after commissioning a massing study by Jacksonville-based engineering firm Haskell, which provided four options for the courthouse land and an adjacent city-owned lot to the west and immediately north of the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. Massing refers to general shapes, forms and sizes of buildings.
Tarbert told board members that splitting the lot into thirds made it more conducive for parking.
“If you split it 50-50, the parking garage basically is too narrow, or you have to turn it in a way that doesn’t really maximize the waterfront development,” he said.
Tarbert said the two-thirds portion of the lot is large enough to support a typical floor plate for a parking garage.
He said offering the one-third portion first was designed to “lower the barrier to entry to get something going on the site, build the market, build the excitement, and then still keeping the larger, more valuable site for future disposition.”
As for parking for the 0.8-acre portion, Tarbert said options included the Hyatt and the city’s Yates garage less than two blocks away.
Requirements for developers of the site include a minimum of 10,000 square feet of riverfront restaurant or bar space; street-level retail, restaurant and entertainment space along Bay Street; and commit to using contractors or suppliers in the Jacksonville Small and Emerging Businesses program. The notice states that DIA is seeking a “qualified, experienced, and well-capitalized development partner” for the property.
The notice can be accessed at https://dia.jacksonville.gov/doing-business-with-us/procurement.
The site has been vacant since 2019, when the courthouse was demolished. That building opened in 1958.
The property immediately north of the Hyatt was the site of a city hall annex that was imploded, also in 2019. It has been vacant since.
In 2022, the DIA approved a $41 million incentives package for Atlanta-based developer Carter to build a 22-story mixed-use project at 330 E. Bay St. called The Hardwick.
In mid-2023, Carter sought an extension on its redevelopment agreement, citing a “frozen” capital market in addition to higher construction costs for its failure to launch. Former DIA CEO Lori Boyer said in early 2024 that the proposed development had fizzled, leading to plans to put the property back up for disposition.
The incentive package included tax refunds, a completion grant and a discount on the property. Because the project never launched, the city never paid out the incentives.