The St. Johns River appears headed for a makeover.
The Downtown Investment Authority is gearing up to hire a consultant to develop a riverfront design and investment strategy within its Downtown borders.
It’s a multifaceted step that will include a plan for underused and underdeveloped riverfront properties, identifying opportunities for attractions and public places, and improving wayfinding signage between the river and other Downtown areas.
“The one thing that we need to spend much more time on, that we didn’t do in my first three years, is riverfront activation, attraction, public space and design guidelines,” said authority CEO Aundra Wallace.
Authority Chair Jim Bailey, publisher of the Daily Record, called the riverfront push “one of the biggest, strongest statements” the organization could make for the city.
The board in its Community Redevelopment Area meeting before the regular meeting approved a scope of services for the consultancy request for proposal that Wallace said will be ready for procurement by December and receive bids by January.
Wallace said his hope is to have the consultant in place by March. He declined to say what the budget for the project would be, but said the funding would come from within the authority’s administrative budget as well as the Southbank Tax Increment Financing fund.
“There’s a lot of momentum happening along the riverfront,” said Wallace.
There is, but not just Downtown.
City Council President Lori Boyer told Wallace and the board she has been meeting with a number of people and organizations over the past few months who have an interest in improving the river.
She wants to share those ideas during a meeting Nov. 3 at City Hall focused solely on the river.
“It is bringing all these people together to have a bigger conversation about what we can do,” she said afterward.
As for Boyer, she said she has “a lot of ideas” for improving the river but held off on discussing any Tuesday. She said she first wants to share them with the JAX Chamber this week on its leadership trip to Pittsburgh. City and business officials leave today.
During the authority’s regular meeting, the riverfront served as a considerable talking point for a proposed development along the Southbank.
Ventures Development Group is seeking to build a 250-unit apartment building adjacent to the Aetna building on what is commonly referred to as the Hines property.
The development firm in 2005 sought to build a 40-story residential tower with more than 200 units on the site, but it never materialized.
This project isn’t nearly as tall, proposed at 10 stories, but it does include a four-story parking garage situated along the river that had one board member “very concerned.”
Brenna Durden said she wasn’t opposed to giving Ventures the development rights, but first wanted more information on the project and specifically the riverfront garage component before signing off.
She sought to defer the matter until the board’s November meeting to allow for a possible joint workshop with the Downtown Development Review Board.
Steve Diebenow, an attorney representing Ventures, said the development group was open to a workshop but sought permitting approvals as quickly as possible to sustain momentum for the project.
“I think we’re all trying to get to the same place,” he said.
Other board members also talked about not wanting to lose the momentum for the “challenging” site given its layout.
Ultimately, the board granted the development rights with Durden in opposition.
The project is on the agenda of DDRB’s Thursday meeting.
Also approved was a $303,750 no-interest loan to The Vestcor Cos. to develop 100-110 multifamily workforce housing units in LaVilla.
The company is seeking tax credits from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. If it does not receive the credits, the project would not proceed and the money would not be disbursed.
Another LaVilla project is more imminent. A groundbreaking is scheduled next week for the Lofts at LaVilla, a 130-unit workforce housing complex by Vestcor.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466