The land of the river, in which the city demolished the old regional courtroom and the buildings of the mayoralty of the neighboring, are still herbaceous lots that struggle to remain green in the dried heat, years after the buildings came down.
Member of the City Council Joe Karlucci offers $ 45 million, launched in the hand for that part of the city center, which will earn money in a special development fund, which can only be used in a concentrated area that covers these two free batches along Bay Street, with a port to them, where the city is torn apart.
The other blocks are the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel, the Hyatt’s Parking Garage, a parking lot to the main street and a block that contains the Herkimer building – also known as Baywater Square – and the Duval building in the city center.
Air view on May 23, 2025 shows the two grassy lots, where the city overthrew the Old District Court and the mayoralty years ago in downtown Jacksonville. The Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel is next to the lots of the St. Jones River.
The bill, filed by Karlucci, overturns the script for how the city usually develops in the city center because it would create a pot with funding for a targeted area and the city will determine how to spend it within these limits.
“I really want to focus on our river end and I want to focus on residentials,” he said. “This will make our city center come to life.”
Karlucci will invest $ 45 million in special development, transferring money from a surplus to the city’s self -government fund.
The target area is along Bay Street, which Karlucci said should be the street corridor that the city emphasizes for development. He said that this would bring residents to the beach strip, where the city is building a chain of parks from Riverfront Plaza to the Sofia Park.
A walk on Bay Street would take people along the area of elbow entertainment, anchored by the theater in Florida, the planned park of the former shipyard site, the future museum of science and history and the building of four seasons and residences built by the owner of the Jaguars Shad Khan.
“Bay Street must be our main passageway when people come to the city center and this will connect the Riverfront Plaza all the way to the sports and entertainment neighborhood,” Karlucci said.
The red line shows the border for the area of the city center, to which the Jacksonville Municipal Council member Joe Karlucci wants to go to development by setting up $ 45 million in a special center development fund. Herbaceous areas are where the city demolished the old district court and the town hall buildings
The investment body in the city center is already twice trying to develop a lotta -owned lotter where the District Court has once stood.
In July 2020, the investment body at the Center chose a proposal from Spandrel development partners for development with 520 apartments and possibly urban grocery stores, covering both the Courthouse and the City Hall.
The transformation shows what he offered to build Spandrel when he got a nod in February 2020 for the development of land owned by the city called Ford in the Bay.
When this did not refuse, the authority only shops the website of the Court of Justice and elected Carter, a real estate developer, in January 2022, to build a $ 140 million apartment building, 332 units of the site. But it also struck a dead end when increasing inflation and interest rates make it difficult to finance construction projects.
The grant program to improve trade in the center of investment in the center stimulates the beginning of several new bars and clubs in the elbow area: Decca Live, Bar Hardwicks, Ruby Beach Brewing, Cereals and Dorothy Center.
The investment body in the center also identifies the streets of Laura and Hogan for additional restaurants and night attractions. Like Bay Street, these two streets are connected to Riverfront Plaza, but they head north at the heart of the historic part of the city where Gateway Jax builds the largest development in the city center.
Kalucci said his legislation would not stop any developers from looking for incentives, but $ 45 million would be outside the boundaries of any development outside the target area.
The downtown investment body chose a developer in 2022 to build Hardwick in Ford on the bay where the city destroyed the Old District Court. However, the development of hardwick did not go through the planning stage.
“We need focus and if the focus is simply reaction to any project, it will come to us, we will find ourselves where we are today, which has not happened in the city center,” he said. “This is the story and that’s how everyone feels.”
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The borders of the downtown Jacksonville cover an area of 3.9 square miles on both sides of the St. Jones River, and some parts of it have evolved faster, with the transformation of the Brooklyn neighborhood, while the older historical core has not acquired the type of street level, which is the hallmark of the throne.
Karlucci said he expects the developers to be interested in the Bay Street area for “showcase development”.
“The goal is to set a big goal on all these plots, which we desperately want to develop our river bank,” he said. “Let’s see who comes to the table.”
This article originally appeared in Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Councilman offers $ 45 million to develop the city center