Twelve years after it closed, J. Allen Axson Elementary School is poised to be resurrected as a boutique hotel after a Feb. 4 vote by the Jacksonville City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee.
The seven-member committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of two ordinances related to a proposal to revive the historic school building at 1221 E. 16th St. as a mixed-use development. The next step for the legislation is a final vote by the full City Council, where it is likely to pass after drawing no opposition in either the Planning Commission or the LUZ.
Ordinance 2024-0902 would change the land use from Public Buildings and Facilities to Community/Commercial General, and companion Ordinance 2024-0903 would rezone the property from Public Buildings and Facilities to Planned Unit Development.
Plans call for the school property to include a hotel, restaurant and bar, and self-storage units. The hotel and dining establishment would be an adaptive reuse of the school building, and the self-storage component would be new construction.
The property owner, Jack Sun Villas LLC, is managed by Jacksonville residents Roberto R. Alegre, Samantha K. Alegre and Isabel Mills-Alegre, all of Jacksonville.
The school property is east of the district, mostly bordered by Main, 15th and Liberty streets and an east-west rail line. The original building was constructed in 1910, with additions following in 1915 and 1926.
Originally known as Public School No. 8, Axson closed in 2013. It was renamed for one of its principals, for whom Duval Schools later named J. Allen Axson Montessori School, at 4763 Sutton Park Court in Southeast Jacksonville.
The Planning Commission approved the rezoning with a condition requested by the owners to allow the self-storage unit structure to be up to 60 feet tall, 15 feet taller than the city Planning and Development staff had recommended. Another condition requires construction and renovation of the school building to begin before a Certificate of Occupancy is issued for the self-storage.
A representative of the property owner, land use attorney Cyndy Trimmer with Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, acknowledged that historic preservation guidelines generally call for new construction on historic properties not to obscure the original structures. The school is 45 feet tall.
But Trimmer said the new construction on the Axson site would be separated from the school by a parking lot and would provide a noise and sight barrier between the school and the elevated Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, which borders the property to the east.
“It fades into the background,” she said of the self-storage, adding that it is necessary to make the project financially feasible.
On Jan. 14, City Council gave final approval to Ordinance 2024-0880, designating the school as a city of Jacksonville historic landmark. The owners sought the designation.
Council Vice President Kevin Carrico chairs the LUZ. Members are Raul Arias, Rahman Johnson, Rory Diamond, Ken Amaro, Joe Carlucci and Reggie Gaffney Jr.