A historic Downtown property moved closer to redevelopment as Jacksonville City Council committees approved a final round of loans for the project.
Committees approved $143,710 in loan funding for Historic Stanton Inc. to renovate the Old Stanton High School at 521 W. Ashley St. The nonprofit plans to redevelop the building into a museum, classrooms, office space and more.
Ordinance 2026-0260, which contains the funding, advanced through the Council Rules Committee and Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee with a 6-0 vote May 4. Finance Committee approved it 5-1 on May 5, with member Rory Diamond voting no. It is set for a full Council vote May 12.
The funding for the space is not newly appropriated but rather is part of the city’s second distribution to the project. Council approved a total loan contribution of $300,000 to the project in 2021, distributing the first $156,290 in 2022.
The loan approved by committees May 4-5 would help finance work on the building’s electrical systems, exterior and interior remediation.
According to the legislation approved in 2021, the full costs of the project were $9.65 million.
The funds moving through Council are the final planned distribution from the city. Up to 25% of the loan would come as an advance payment, while the remaining funds would be distributed after the advance has been spent.
Council member Rahman Johnson, who introduced the bill, said he expects development to move forward on the project with the funding reappropriated by Council.
“I believe that they’re working toward not just getting the building shored up, but to getting it open so it not only generates revenue but gives people a chance to walk through history in Jacksonville,” he said.
The building, which opened for classes in 1917, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The school was named after Edwin M. Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war, and was the only secondary school for Black students in Duval County when it opened, according to its nomination form for the national register.