The Downtown Development Review Board granted conceptual approval March 12 for a Northbank high-rise and a Southbank hotel.
DDRB members voted 7-0, with members Kevin Craig and Peter Deiuliis absent, to grant approval for a 15-story hotel on Baptist Health’s campus.
The board voted 6-0, with the two members absent and Joseph Loretta abstaining, in favor of the 32-story Fleet Landing Riverside, a retirement community planned on the former Haskell headquarters property in the Brooklyn district of Downtown.
After receiving DDRB conceptual approval, developers will need to return to the board for final design approval.
The Baptist Health project is a 226-room dual-brand Marriott property at 1051 Palm Ave., now a parking lot. Plans for the $110 million development call for a 134-room Marriott Tribute Portfolio boutique hotel and a 92-room Element by Westin extended stay hotel.
Other elements include 5,200 square feet of conference space, a 5,000-square-foot rooftop restaurant, a 1,000-square-foot ground-floor cafe and a 113-space parking garage.
The DDRB approved the conceptual approval with staff recommendations that entrances along Baptist Way and Gary Street remain accessible from the public sidewalks, and that all rooftop mechanical equipment and access areas be screened from view from adjacent streets in a manner compatible with the building design.
On Jan. 21, the Downtown Investment Authority board approved a $12.9 million Recapture Enhanced Value Grant and an $8 million completion grant for the hotel. Both grants will apply to the entire hotel project.
Under the city’s governance structure, the DIA vote on the REV Grant constituted final action. The proposed completion grant advances to Council, which has final authority on whether to approve, deny or alter it because it would involve a payout from the city’s operating fund.
A REV Grant is a refund on ad valorem tax revenue generated by a new development or property enhancement. With REV Grants, the city agrees to forego some tax revenue but does not pay the grant from its operating fund.
Fleet Landing announced in February that its first-phase plans for the 7.39-acre site at 111 Riverside Ave. comprised 239 independent living residences, 28 assisted living and 18 memory care suites, a parking garage, multiple dining venues, a swimming pool, a performing arts center and elevated decks.
A project overview shows the design is for nearly 780,000 gross square feet, including more than 398,000 square feet dedicated to residential space, supported by circulation and amenity areas. Some spaces, along with access to the Riverwalk, will be available to the public.
The Fleet Landing project raised concerns from the Scenic Jacksonville Design Committee, which wrote in a March 11 memo to the DDRB that “there are significant gaps in critical design elements in the conceptual proposal.”
Scenic Jacksonville, a nonprofit organization advocating for preserving, protecting and enhancing the scenic character of Jacksonville, said building entrances, ground floor elevations and specific locations of trash, loading, storage or other service areas were not identified in the conceptual design.
Scenic Jacksonville also said a “lack of detail on architectural elements at the pedestrian level” could lead to less landscaping and make the area unusable during the day.
Attorney Cyndy Trimmer, representing the developer, said Fleet Landing needed conceptual approval to receive financing for the project, leading to what she called a “less-baked” application for conceptual approval than typically seen by the board.
Fleet Landing CEO Josh Ashby told DDRB members that undeveloped land next to the planned high-rise could be developed, but that Fleet Landing had no immediate plans to build on the rest of the property. The company was interested in seeing how the rest of Brooklyn would be developed first and whether Fleet Landing could work with another developer, he said.
DDRB’s approval came with conditions that the developer provide architectural elevations and façade details demonstrating how the development addresses both frontages along Riverside Avenue and the St. Johns River, ground-floor transparency calculations and plans identifying building entrances before returning for final approval.
Haskell, a global building services company, built the Riverside Avenue headquarters building in 1986. It sold the structure and adjacent parking lot for $27.25 million in 2008 leased it back. Haskell has moved its headquarters to the Southbank.
Fleet Landing’s first campus, established by a group of military officers in 1985, is in Atlantic Beach. The not-for-profit’s mission is “to enrich the lives of older adults through high-quality programs and services to support successful aging,” according to its website.
Fleet Landing also is building a $146 million campus in Nocatee.