In the near-term and possibly longer, Snyder Memorial Church in Downtown Jacksonville is coming back to life.
The city-owned historic church, no longer used for religious services, is at 226 N. Laura St. near James Weldon Johnson Park.
On Nov. 19, the Downtown Investment Authority Finance and Budget Committee voted 4-0 to recommend approval of a resolution to spend $30,000 to bring the monthly Downtown Art Walk to the church in December 2024 and February, March, April and May of 2025.
The money will go toward renting portable restrooms, paying personnel to monitor for fires and providing live entertainment in the building at up to $6,000 per event.
The first DIA-funded event was the October Art Walk at the request of Mayor Donna Deegan, according to the agenda item, Resolution 2024-11-07.
The 12,337-square-foot Gothic-style church was part of the first development wave Downtown after The Great Fire of 1901. It was acquired by the city in the 1970s, then later sold but bought back by the city in 2004.
In the 1960s, the church was used as a meeting place for Black and white religious and civic leaders for discussions about desegregating Jacksonville.
In related news, DIA CEO Lori Boyer told committee members that the DIA had been in contact with parties interested in redeveloping the building. Asked why the DIA only sought funding to bring events to the building through May 2025, she said it’s possible the DIA could put the property up for disposition in the spring of 2025.
“It could be that we’re in the disposition process and we’re in transition” in May 2025, she said.
The committee’s vote on the activation funding sends the resolution to a vote by the full DIA Board on Nov. 20.
Boyer also asked committee members to ponder whether to potentially fund incentives for renovation of the building out of DIA budget reserves, as opposed to standard grants that draw from the city’s general fund.
Boyer said she made the suggestion based on comments from Jacksonville City Council members and Deegan’s office about the city’s ability to fund completion grants and other types of grants that are paid out of the general fund. Those concerns came after Council auditors projected budget deficits of up to $105 million through 2029, resulting primarily from city spending this year on high-priced items such as the Jacksonville Jaguars “Stadium of the Future” and raises for police and firefighters.