Plans to redevelop a Downtown building into a restaurant with short-term rental units above it are getting extra time to take shape after an incentive package for the project was deferred Nov. 15 in a meeting of the Downtown Investment Authority Strategic Implementation Committee.
According to DIA staff, JWB Real Estate Capital LLC applied for a $2.56 million incentive package to resurrect the building at 225 N. Laura St., which is referred to as Juliette Balcony or Juliette’s Balcony in DIA documents.
Duval County records list the property owner as Juliette Balcony LLC, which according to state records is managed by Rafael and Carmen Godwin of Jacksonville. The Godwins bought the building in 2022 from Chamblin’s Uptown owner Ron Chamblin for $890,000.
Steve Kelley, the DIA’s director of Downtown real estate and development, told the committee that JWB or a related entity planned to take an ownership interest in Juliette Balcony LLC and was working through issues involved in that effort.
In requesting the deferral, he said he anticipated that the arrangement would be resolved in coming weeks and that the incentives would be ready for consideration by the DIA board and its committees again in December.
As described in a DIA staff report on Resolution 2024-11-04, which contains the proposed incentive package, plans for the building include a ground-floor restaurant and apartments on the upper floors.
Each floor would comprise two studio units and two one-bedroom, one-bath units ranging from 392 square feet to 585 square feet. The units would be used as short-term rentals using Airbnb or similar platforms.
The three-story building was constructed three years after the Great Fire of 1901. It is sandwiched between Chamblin’s Uptown and the defunct Mag’s Cafe.
The building’s exterior features include balcony railings on the two second-story windows facing Laura Street.
The proposed incentive package comprises a Historic Preservation Restoration and Rehabilitation Forgivable Loan of $1.283 million, a Code Compliance Renovations Forgivable Loan of $765,000 and a Downtown Preservation and Revitalization Program Deferred Principle Loan of $512,000.
The property received local landmark status through a City Council vote in 2023. According to a DIA staff report, the building has been vacant for several years “and has experienced several redevelopment plans and partial interior demolition to prepare for those redevelopment ideas.”
“While none of those plans were fulfilled, the alterations made have left the building in a state of significant disrepair and much of the effort currently proposed will be spent towards bringing the property back to functional use,” the report reads.
Avant Construction will be the general contractor for the project, the report says.
According to the report, the Planning and Development Department’s Historic Preservation Section said the building “has significance as one of the few remaining examples of the smaller scale mixed-use buildings constructed in Downtown Jacksonville during the second period of significant new construction following the Great Fire of May 3, 1901.”
The company’s investment is listed at $5.8 million in DIA documents, which list the return on investment of public funding at 53 cents on the dollar.
JWB has been active in redeveloping Downtown properties in recent years, including the Porter House Mansion, Florida Baptist Convention building and Federal Reserve building in the Downtown core.
The developer is resurrecting the Greenleaf & Crosby Building at 208 N. Laura St., which it plans to use as its company headquarters. Plans for that building include 44,000 square feet of office space plus restaurant square footage on the ground floor, including the former Jacobs Jewelers location.
In February 2024, Council approved $4.9 million in incentives for the $16 million project.
JWB also is a partner in the $2 billion-plus Gateway Jax mixed-use development, which on Oct. 29 celebrated the groundbreaking for the first building in its first phase, Pearl Square.
The SIC committee meets at 2 p.m. at the Main Library, 303 N. Laura St.
This story has been updated with the deferral.