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Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Vol. 105, No. 098 • One Section
www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Startup craft brewery planned for the Rail Yard District
Multifamily housing coming to E-Town
Plans show four apartment buildings east of Florida 9B.
Multifamily residential will be joining two single-family developments at the E-Town mixeduse project planned along Interstate 295 and Florida 9B in South Jacksonville. Property owner Eastland Timber LLC seeks a zoning exception for 17.58 acres of vacant land at 11241 E-Town Parkway to integrate multifamily residential into an area surrounded by land designated for Community/General Commercial use. The site is east of Florida 9B and south of E-Town Parkway. No developer or project details were listed. A site plan shows four apartment buildings, with two on each side of a roundabout. Lawyer Paul Harden is the agent. Residential developers bought two of the first E-Town parcels to be sold. David Weekley Homes, the first builder to buy in E-Town, bought 111.28 acres for $6 million and plans 143 homes. The land will be developed as a joint venture between David Weekley Homes and ICI Homes. They expect models to be under construction before the end of the year. Toll Brothers, through Toll Southeast LP Co. Inc., paid almost
Photo by Scott Sailer
Joaquin “Joe” Baez, along with his wife and a friend, are working to transform the building at 2100 Dennis St. into a brewery and taproom.
Owners seeks zoning exception for Keen Brewing Co. at 2100 Dennis St. north of McCoys Creek. By Scott Sailer Editorial Research Director Keen Brewing Co., a startup craft brewery, is in the works north of McCoys Creek in the Rail Yard District.
Owners Joaquin “Joe” and Maryn Baez and friend Andrew Parks seek zoning approvals to open the brewery and taproom at 2100 Dennis St., west of Lemon Street. The brewery is named for Joe’s father, Joaquin, whose nickname was Keen. Keen Brewing applied to the Jacksonville Planning Commission for a zoning exception to sell and serve alcoholic beverages for on- or off-premise consumption. It also requests an administrative deviation from the city’s Zoning Code to eliminate the required off-street parking. Joe Baez said the building, constructed in 1952, previously was used by Ronco
Machine Inc., which made the cardboard type cores for toilet paper rolls. The 20,000-square-foot space is larger than he needs, so he plans to include a game area with an indoor bocce ball court and pingpong tables. Half of the building, 10,000 square feet, would house the brewery production. Offices and labs would comprise 4,000 square feet of space; the taproom would need 3,000 square feet; and the remaining 3,000 square feet will be the game area. The tap and game room will be open Keen
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Nonprofit buys Cathedral District property Former Community Connections site takes step toward becoming housing. David Cawton Staff Writer A nonprofit bought the former Community Connections of Jacksonville Inc. property Thursday and wants to spark redevelopment in the Downtown Cathedral District. Billy Goat Hill Inc. bought the 1.52-acre site at 325 E. Duval St.
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Community Connections shut d ow n in December 2016. The property is next to Myrick Saint John’s Cathedral and is bounded by Duval, Liberty and Church streets and Shields Place. Billy Goat Hill Inc. is an affiliate of the Episcopal Cathedral and is a nod to the name of the highest point in Downtown. The nonprofit is led by former Jacksonville City Council member and church lobbyist
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Ginny Myrick. She previously managed the purchasing and redevelopment project through another church-backed nonprofit, Cathedral District Jax Inc. Until it closed, Community Connections focused on sheltering homeless women and children. It began in 1911 as the YWCA. Myrick’s group plans to partner with a developer to transform the vacant property and convert an existing building into an apartment complex over the next year to 18 months. She said the nonprofit began moving toward buying the land after Community Connections
shut down. “At many junctures, we thought the deal was dead,” Myrick said Wednesday. “Then all the sudden it turned around.” A LONG ROAD
When Community Connections failed to make mortgage payments in early 2017, four liens were placed on the property, complicating any potential sale. “Our arrangement was to help Community Connections get out of debt,” Myrick said. She said 11 attorneys from Jacksonville law firms offered Cathedral
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Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
Landowner Eastland Timber LLC seeks to rezone 17.58 acres along Florida 9B at E-Town Parkway for multifamily development in E-Town.
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