There will be a riverfront restaurant in the Brooklyn area of Jacksonville, now that developers and the city have come to an agreement — one that will see the city help pay for the eatery.
The Downtown Investment Authority voted 7-0 Thursday to approve nearly $30 million in incentives for Fuqua Development's plan to redevelop the former Florida Times-Union property. That includes splitting the cost of building a restaurant, which the city agency has argued is needed for riverfront activation.
The lynchpin of the agreement is that Fuqua will include the riverfront restaurant in phase one of the development in order to receive a rebate on some of its property taxes.
The city has agreed to split the construction cost of the restaurant with Fuqua, with the city's cost not exceeding $750,000.
Fuqua's proposed plan for 1 Riverside Ave. would turn it into a mixed-use property consisting of apartments, a grocery store and retail space. A separate project on the site will involve the City of Jacksonville working to relocate McCoys Creek to the east and establish a new public park along the water.
"I think this is a great project," said DIA member Todd Froats. "And fact that we’re activating the creek and riverfront is a home run. If it’s not a home run, it's a stand-up triple."
It's not yet clear if the restaurant will be a freestanding building located where a helipad currently sits, or if it will be incorporated into one of the residential buildings planned for the site. Developers are expected to have the decision on the restaurant location before presenting the plan to the Downtown Development Review Board.
The first vote on incentives for the project was postponed in August after the DIA board asked developers to further activate the riverfront, specifically with a restaurant of some sort in the earliest phase of the development.
Fuqua's plan involves development in two phases.
The city will have to complete work on the creek before Fuqua could begin on phase two of the project. A provision in the agreement says that if the city doesn't complete the creek project in a certain time frame, then the developer would have the option for the city to re-purchase the remaining property.
A couple of public comments before the meeting began Thursday asked the DIA to ensure that if public money is incentivizing this development, to make sure the project will have excellent design and engages the public.
DIA board chair Braxton Gillam pointed out that Fuqua's project will turn the site from unused and blighted into a property that not only includes mixed-uses, but even a new public park.
Another public comment called the proposed buildings ugly.
DIA board members pointed out that there aren't renderings for the buildings yet and the plan is still conceptual, and that design is the purview of the DDRB.
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