When Aundra Wallace arrived in Jacksonville to become the Downtown Investment Authority’s first CEO, he stepped into a Pandora’s box.
An ineffective board, a stagnant Downtown, an intrusive administration and a heap of criticism about lack of progress greeted Wallace in August 2013.
He came with issues, as well.
Wallace was linked to financial controversies in Miami and Detroit, over how millions in taxpayer dollars were spent on projects in those cities while he was there.
That brought early concerns from City Council members and others about Wallace, who actually ranked third in the DIA board’s scoring of its four finalists.
But almost immediately, Wallace began a quiet methodical campaign to build consensus and confidence that could eventually help build Downtown.
He worked to understand the players, the politics and the potential landmines.
Wallace did that concurrently during his first 18 months while creating the authority’s Community Redevelopment Area plan, a blueprint for what should be Downtown’s future.
“I think he was politically savvy,” said council Vice President Lori Boyer, who has been liaison to DIA for several years. “He didn’t get out in front on a lot of things until he started to understand who the players were and what was going on.”
And understanding that means being willing to listen, which many say Wallace does well.
As he talks about Downtown’s progress and its future, Wallace focuses on catalytic projects, the value of timing in the market and the necessity for return on investment for everyone — especially taxpayers.
When The Cowford Chophouse opens this year at Bay and Ocean streets it will be the first real catalytic project during Wallace’s tenure.
But there are many other signs of success: the Southbank is flourishing with activity; Intuition Ale Works and Bold City Brewery have begun working on breweries less than a mile apart from each other on Bay Street; a retail incentives program has brought 110 new jobs and $3 million in capital investment to the urban core; and a project Wallace helped broker could have college students living Downtown in the fall.
More importantly, there’s a confidence in Downtown’s future that hasn’t been here for years.
“We have the strongest foundation, a stronger spine to build from,” said Jim Bailey, the DIA’s board chair who’s been watching Downtown’s ebbs and flows for more than 40 years as publisher of the Daily Record.
A foundation that was unfathomable in 2013 when the future of the fledgling organization was in doubt.
Into the storm
Wallace was aware of the firestorm brewing over DIA before he took the job.
The volunteer nine-member board had been without a leader since it was formed in October 2012.
Many believe that left it vulnerable to interference from Mayor Alvin Brown’s administration, particularly the Office of Economic Development.
The perception the authority’s board was rolling over came to a head when members let OED take over negotiations for six projects.
That action brought Bailey’s frustrated “we’re neutered” diatribe in protest of the decision. He was the lone vote against the action.
Council members were concerned the so-called independent authority that was created by Brown was being crushed under the thumb of his administration.
“There were rumblings of just shuttering the whole thing at that point,” former council member Richard Clark said then.
Wallace recently said the frustrations grew from the fact that people wanted immediate results from DIA, something that was difficult at the time.
All of the board members had day jobs, he said, and an organization has to have management to accomplish goals.
Wallace said four bodies had their own vision for Downtown: the board, the administration, council and constituents.
And instead of talking to each other, he said, the four were talking at each other.
He set out to make sure he was talking to all four.
“I think that was probably the turning point of the organization,” Wallace said.
A turning point he handled in his below-the-radar style.
Building trust
Righting the listing ship that was the board was critical, even as Wallace was beginning work on the CRA.
He immediately faced unexpected hurdles when three board members resigned during his first four months. (A frustrated Bailey was the first of the three but ultimately decided to stay.)
Wallace said a strong relationship with the board was imperative.
“No organization can succeed when the management and organization are not in agreement,” he said.
Plus he knew the two sides had attributes that could complement each other.
Board members offered crucial institutional knowledge to the newcomer, keeping Wallace from walking down an unsuccessful path already taken.
Wallace brought real estate development and deal-making experience most board members didn’t have.
Bailey, Oliver Barakat and Doris Goldstein (who resigned late last year) praised how Wallace developed as a leader.
Goldstein not only appreciated Wallace’s support of the redesign process for the Jacksonville Landing, she also was impressed with his ability to recognize “the reality of the situation.”
And that reality was Toney Sleiman held the lease for another 40 years, meaning the two sides had to work together. They did, through a series of public charrettes that produced a new design (though many said it was similar to one crafted months earlier by the Landing’s team).
A lawsuit filed in October by the city against Sleiman over a parking lot “made going forward impossible,” Goldstein said.
Barakat credited Wallace with starting the Retail Enhancement Grant Program that created more than 100 jobs and brought much-needed capital investment to the urban core.
Bailey appreciated Wallace’s stance when Bailey was pushing that developers who wanted to do business in Downtown needed to start with the DIA instead of making an end-run around the authority.
“He kept saying, ‘Let me gain their trust. Let me gain their trust,’” Bailey said. “I think through that process he gained the respect of those people.”
All three board members had varying concerns at times about Wallace’s communication with the board or the community about the authority’s goals and successes.
Wallace’s regular meetings with individual board members have helped lessen part of that concern.
Bailey has said for a few months he would like the authority to issue news releases about its progress, though that hasn’t yet happened.
Barakat and Bailey have been the two board chairs during Wallace’s tenure, both serving during times that match their abilities, he said.
Wallace said Barakat had the patience to help establish DIA, which was essentially a startup, during its organizational period.
When DIA moved to the transactional stage, Wallace said the board needed a leader with an extensive Rolodex who could connect people. Bailey fits that role well, Wallace said.
Bailey said he and Wallace talk nearly every day and have “deep good conversations about how and who and what.”
He said Wallace has taught him patience, something Bailey is admittedly short on at times.
Wallace said he’s learned persistence from Bailey and the ability to connect the dots in situations.
The two have become the odd couple of DIA, separated by a half-foot in height but walking in lockstep toward the authority’s goals.
Playing the right game
Wallace got his first substantial lesson in playing the chess game of government politics while serving as an assistant to a Miami-Dade county manager in the mid-1990s.
He vividly remembers his boss’s advice: “Wallace, you’ve always got to understand the move before you make the move.”
And that means understanding the people and earning their trust.
“If they don’t trust you,” Wallace said, “there will be no more moves on the chess board.”
He said building that trust comes through a series of linked actions: Explaining the authority’s vision even before it was put on paper, then actually putting the vision on paper. And once you put it on paper, you actually start delivering.
“Jacksonville is a city where people don’t want to do a lot of talking,” he said. “Just do what you say you’re going to do.”
Council member Bill Gulliford appreciates that straight-forward style. “With Aundra, you get what you see,” he said.
Boyer said Wallace built up enough credibility with council members that he was able to secure raises for staff members during the fall’s budget cycle with relative ease.
Part of that likely came through meetings Wallace and Bailey had with individual council members during budget discussions to talk about DIA’s goals. Bailey said those meetings were Wallace’s idea.
Clark, who was critical of DIA’s lack of progress in the authority’s first year, said Wallace is “wonderful” at setting a vision and taking a collaborative approach in reaching it.
“I’ve never seen him confrontational or combative,” said Clark, who now works for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority after being term-limited on council. “I’ve not even seen him be competitive.”
He praised Wallace for not straying from that vision, even when powerful people with large egos and big bank accounts may have wanted him to or when there were changes in the mayor’s office or on council.
There’s no question the relationship between DIA and Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration is far better than the one the authority had with the Brown administration.
Sam Mousa, chief administrative officer for Curry, said there is an open relationship between the administration and DIA.
Not one where the administration tries to direct the independent authority, Mousa said, but one where he isn’t bashful about offering suggestions or recommendations.
Mousa said the collaborative relationship between the entities is such that board members want that information.
But, he said, “At the end of day it’s Aundra and the board’s call.”
Mousa, a long-respected veteran of City Hall, can also provide historical context, such as conveyances and restrictions about the required recreational space tied to bonds used at the Shipyards, or warnings about mistakes made in the past.
“We can say, ‘this went wrong and we promised ourselves we were never going it do again,’” he said, with a laugh.
There’s a mutual respect between Mousa and Wallace.
Mousa called Wallace “a good visionary” from whom he’s learned about Downtown development deals.
Wallace appreciates Mousa’s “just-the-facts” approach.
Count Cynthia Bioteau, president of Florida State College at Jacksonville, among Wallace’s growing legion of fans.
She said Wallace was extremely patient as he worked with FSCJ to find the right building and the right developer for the school’s $6.2 million project to have student housing and a culinary arts program restaurant Downtown.
She said Wallace was concerned about the college, the developer and the city each getting what it needed.
He also went with her to meet with several council members in individual meetings to talk about the return on investment for the $1.2 million the college was seeking in taxpayer grants and loans.
“This is a man of great patience,” she said. “He puts together pieces of mosaic.”
Heading in the right direction
At the end of the day, DIA’s success will be linked to how it builds Downtown.
An improving economy has helped bring interest back to Downtown in projects of all sizes.
There are mammoth ones, like Peter Rummell’s plans for The District - Life Well Lived on the Southbank
There’s the return of the long-talked-about Laura Street Trio and Barnett Bank Building redevelopment. But this time developer Steve Atkins has a partner with a track record of success and deep pockets in the Molasky Group of Companies from Las Vegas.
There’s the partnership between DIA and JTA that will include apartments and JTA’s Regional Transportation Center for the long-neglected LaVilla neighborhood.
There are plans to bring new residents Downtown, including the Clara White Mission’s plan for veterans’ housing on Beaver Street and FSCJ’s student housing in the Lerner Building on Adams Street. (Council on Tuesday approved grants from the Downtown Historic Preservation and Revitalization Trust Fund for both.)
There’s the $90 million in improvements at EverBank Field, including building a multiuse indoor practice facility and an amphitheater. The cost is being split between the city and the Jacksonville Jaguars. (Wallace said that doesn’t kill Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan’s plans to redevelop the Shipyards, though the practice facility and the amphitheater were part of the plans for the long-vacant Shipyards property.)
Those are just a few pieces of what’s in a growing pipeline that shows confidence in Downtown’s future has returned.
Bailey said that confidence is also illustrated by the fact that every Downtown office tower has changed hands and every hotel room is being remodeled.
“You don’t do that hoping something is going to happen,” he said. “The confidence is real, the interest is real.”
As Wallace looks ahead, he envisions what he calls DIA 2.0, which will have the authority prioritizing projects.
Looking at factors like what the market will support, do projects have the right development team and the right financial capabilities and what’s going to bring the greatest impact. The issue will be discussed at this afternoon’s DIA meeting.
Having worked in Detroit, Wallace knows the difficulty in getting taxpayer help when a city is struggling with a pension crisis like Jacksonville.
Curry has a plan making its way through the Legislature that would extend the Better Jacksonville Plan half-cent sales tax to pay down the city’s almost $2.7 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.
Mousa said in the fall when the pension crisis is solved, it could add $100 million to $110 million a year in recurring funds for the city to use in a variety of ways.
Until then, Wallace said it is difficult to get taxpayer dollars for projects — even great ones — when the city needs to handle basic services like water, sewer and street repairs.
But that doesn’t deter him from the vision he’s set for Downtown. A Downtown that Wallace said is quietly getting its identity.
In the same steady way Wallace has established his own.
@editormarilyn
(904) 356-2466