Daily Record Financial News &
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 249 • oNe SectioN
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Sax Seafood site looking for bidders DIA hoping to find life for long-vacant building Union St. structure looks like crews just left in the middle of the job. Construction debris and piles of wood lie all over the floor. The original plans for the restaurant are lined neatly on the half-built bar. The Downtown Investment Authority is hoping that after nearly a decade of nothing, the former Sax Seafood site can become something that might contribute to the progress being seen in LaVilla. It’s an area that DIA CEO Aundra Wallace labeled last year as the “next frontier” for Downtown. The progress includes an event Wednesday, when officials broke ground on a site several blocks
One window is broken, the other boarded at the Sax Seafood & Grill site. The Downtown Investment Authority is looking for possible suitors to help further the progress being made in LaVilla.
UPS files plans for expansion project
Photo by David Chapman
By David Chapman, Staff Writer It’s a downtrodden LaVilla building that people had high hopes for more than a decade ago. Plans were in place for Sax Seafood & Grill, a restaurant at the edge of a Downtown neighborhood that had not received much investment. The city in 2003 partnered with an Orlando developer and spent nearly $2 million in hopes of seeing the jazz-themed establishment come into place. It never made it. Five years later, the city took over the partially constructed building. It’s sat idle since then. A step into the vacant 816 W.
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Site plans were filed Wednesday for an expansion to United Parcel Service Inc.’s Northwest package distribution center, indicating the Atlanta-based global logistics company is serious about growth in Jacksonville. The plans show an almost 264,000-squarefoot expansion and nearly 730 additional parking spaces, signaling an increase in employment and delivery vehicles. When completed, the UPS center will be almost 800,000 square feet and offer about 1,680 parking spaces. The center is at 4420 Imeson Road in Westside Industrial Park. It was developed in 1989. Information submitted with the site plan says the total property boundary is about 130 acres. The documents were dated Oct. 26, a day after legislation was filed with City Council for Project Mountain, a fast-track deal for a $4.3 million Recapture Enhanced Value grant for an unidentified global logistics solutions company. Project Mountain, as it is code-named, would invest $196 million into expansion of its Northwest Jacksonville logistics center and create 10 jobs by year-end 2020 that pay an average $50,675 plus benefits. A city project summary said the company is considering four other cities across the U.S. for the expansion. The summary said the company already employs 965 people, wants to start construction by the end of this year and complete the expansion within three years. While the description of Project Mountain matches UPS, the company has said only that it is considering Jacksonville among various locations “where communities are supportive of our projects as we further assess the viability of an opportunity.” The company also has asked the city for an administrative deviation to the zoning code to increase parking and reduce the landscape requirements.
south that will have 130 units of affordable housing. Maybe in the near future the DIA and others can have a similar celebratory scene at the Sax Seafood site. Last week, it continued to lay the groundwork for that by hosting an open house Friday for people to visit and see the state of the building. Guy Parola, redevelopment manager with the DIA, said the opportunity is there given what’s happening around LaVilla. In addition to the Wednesday groundbreaking, there are plans to bring another 100-plus units to the area.
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A site plan for The District shows the layout for the mixed-use development planned for the former JEA Southside Generating Station site on the Southbank.
Green light for The District plan
Negotiations will now begin on city’s responsibilities By Max Marbut Staff Writer The icing is ready to spread. Now it’s time to make and bake the cake. The Downtown Development Review Board approved on Wednesday the master plan design guidelines for The District, the mixed-use project proposed on the former JEA Southside Generating Station site Downtown along the Southbank. The product of months of work between Downtown Investment Authority staff and architects working with Elements Development of Jacksonville LLC, the plan lays out comprehensive standards for building
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heights, set-back and build-to lines and streetscape standards. “This document gives staff specificity. We’ll use it to give us guidance in the final product,” said Jim Klement, authority development coordinator. The District will comprise numerous structures and amenities on the 28.6-acre parcel including apartments, condominium towers, a hotel, retail and restaurant space, as well as public parks and parking lots. “It’s a unique public and destinationoriented product,” Klement said. As each component is designed, architects will use the master plan as their
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design standard. Any deviation will have to come before the board for its review and decision. Elements partner Michael Munz said the master plan will be used as the basis for all aspects of each project as agreements are negotiated with developers who become part of The District. “We’ll make the design guidebook a condition of closing,” he said. “This (document) will live with the project.” Elements is required to submit a progress report to the board five years after the project begins. The master plan is effective for 10 years unless amended. DDRB CONTINUED ON PAGE A-4
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