Restaurateur and neighborhood resident Andy Zarka opted against opening an ice cream shop along North Main Street in Historic Springfield.
The 89-year-old building, a former service station, is back on the market for sale or lease.
Owner Michael Trautmann says he has prospects for the 1401 N. Main St. structure at Main and Fourth streets.
He wants more.
“There’s plenty of demand,” he said. Trautmann, as president of the Springfield Improvement Association and Archives, wants a good fit for the neighborhood.
Springfield, established in 1869 and the city’s oldest neighborhood, has been adding restaurants, retail stores and breweries on the main corridor leading north from Downtown.
Original, restored and some new homes fill in the streets on both sides of Main Street. Some structures continue to deteriorate while buyers continue to seek properties to renovate.
Residents have been asking for services and stores that don’t require drives to other neighborhoods or suburbs.
Trautmann said he has a vested interest in Main Street and “the community at large.”
“I am trying to steer that building in the right direction,” he said.
Zarka decided against the project because costs exceeded expectations.
“Construction costs for what we needed to do to convert the place into an ice cream shop just weren’t anywhere near the initial estimates we got,” Zarka said.
Zarka and his wife, Marlo, envisioned leasing and converting the 2,800-square-foot structure into Springfield United, a soft-serve ice cream shop that also would sell beer and wine.
Zarka owns four European Street Cafes with his mother in Riverside, San Marco, Jacksonville Beach and along Beach Boulevard near University Boulevard.
He said almost a year ago he and his wife wanted to pursue the Springfield project. The Jacksonville Planning Commission granted a zoning exception Oct. 18 to Trautmann & Co. LLC to allow the outside sale and service of beer and wine at the property.
Trautmann also received a JEA service availability letter for the project.
Zarka said in October the exterior would stay the same and he anticipated $70,000 to $80,000 in other renovations toward a 2019 opening.
Trautmann said the original costs for Zarka’s project doubled. “The economics just weren’t right for him,” Trautmann said. He said that at the end of June, it was clear the deal was not going to move forward.
He also said Zarka needed to be open for the summer for ice cream sales. “All the numbers and timing were all wrong,” he said. “It just didn’t work out.”
Trautmann bought the property in 1999.
He said it was built as a Standard Oil service station and maintains zoning permission for automotive uses. Among interested users are car-related services, including sales.
“It may end up going back to a car lot for a few years,” he said.
The building is masonry on structural brick. He said Standard Oil fully remediated the property.
Its previous tenants include car stereo installation and window tinting and political campaign offices. The last tenant was a custom motorcycle design business.
Trautmann said he has a pending facade grant application with the Springfield Area Merchants and Business Association Commercial Corridor Grant Program.
The program covers improvements that include painting, awnings, signage, window and door replacement, lighting, landscaping, planters, street furniture, bicycle racks and restoration of historic features.
The grant requires a 50% match from the applicant. Work must begin within 60 days and be completed within 120 days after grant approval.
Grants, from $250 to $2,500, are disbursed after the project is completed. Trautmann seeks a $2,500 grant for windows, a new front door and paint.
The Duval County Property Appraiser assessed the property value at $84,462 for 2019.(904) 356-2466
