The new owner of Regency Square Mall has not requested financial incentives from the city of Jacksonville to help finance a plan to redevelop the 58-year-old property, the city said.
“Currently, the City of Jacksonville is not planning to provide any incentives for this project,” the city stated April 10 in email from Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry.
“We have not received a proposal or had a detailed discussion about it other than preliminary notice from the developer that they would be purchasing the property.”
Lake City-based Blackwater Development LLC announced April 9 it had closed on the purchase of the Arlington regional mall. The new owner’s redevelopment plan includes multifamily residential communities, retail and financial institutions.
If Blackwater does pursue incentives, such a request likely would be made with the city Office of Economic Development.
Under Blackwater’s plans, the redeveloped mall would be renamed The Nexus at Regency.
Rurmell McGee, founder of Blackwater Development, has said that parts of the property would be demolished and redeveloped with multifamily housing, retail, entertainment and other uses.
For that to happen, the project will need city, planning and building approvals.
The email from Perry said requests for demolition permits for the property would be handled the same as those from any property owner and contractor.
The applicant would submit a package with several required documents, including a site plan and asbestos testing report, which would be routed through city agencies for review. Those include Building Inspection, Landscaping, Environmental Quality Division and Fire Marshal staff.
The city said in an email that a zoning exception “at the very least” would be needed for the redevelopment to include residential uses.
The land use for the site is Regional Commercial and the zoning is Commercial Community/General 1. Both allow for residential uses under certain parameters.
In some cases, a zoning exception could be approved by the Planning Commission.
If a full rezoning is needed, the Planning and Development Department staff would review applications and make a recommendation for approval, denial or approval with conditions such as alterations of site plans, traffic studies and signage restrictions.
The Jacksonville Planning Commission then votes whether to recommend an application, followed by City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee review and a vote by the full Council.
If a land use amendment is needed, the request would need a large-scale process that would involve two rounds of local public hearings.
The first round is known as a transmittal, with the amendment being sent to the state for agencies to review.
Once it is returned, it would need an adoption round in which a companion rezoning would take the standard process - Planning Commission, Land Use and Zoning Committee and City Council.
The mayor’s office issued a statement about the acquisition:
“Something has needed to happen with the Regency Square Mall for a long time. We’re encouraged that it has changed hands to an owner with a vision and intentions to redevelop it for the betterment of Arlington and the broader Jacksonville community.”
Deeds recorded April 10 with the Duval County Clerk of Court show Blackwater paid $19.1 million, with Blackwater Regency LLC paying $12.1 million and Blackwater Regency Acquisition LLC paying $7 million.
First Horizon Bank issued a $7 million mortgage.