Just over a decade ago, Oliver Barakat took over as the first chairman of the Downtown Investment Authority.
Barakat, a real estate expert who had been involved in downtown issues since his days an intern at the city’s former Downtown Development Authority in the early 1990s, had lofty aims.
"I hope this organization is going to be one that is proactive and not simply reactive to proposed development in the private sector, that we help guide and lead private development," Barakat said when he was appointed as chairman.
Eleven years later, Barakat is the last of the original members on the DIA board, having served as chairman multiple times and helping guide the organization through changing economic situations, different mayoral administrations and a recent surge in interest in the urban core.
"It feels like right now there's so much momentum, this speed is going to really increase in several years," Barakat said recently in a conversation with the Business Journal.
Read the full story at the Jacksonville Business Journal.