The area around the Phoenix Arts & Innovation District is primed for two new improvements after votes Feb. 11 by the Jacksonville City Council.
Council gave final approval to legislation facilitating the resurrection of J. Allen Axson Elementary School as a mixed-use development and for property immediately north of the Phoenix district to be redeveloped as a dining and family entertainment operation identified as Main Street Food Park and Mini-Golf Adventures in city documents.
Axson Elementary School
For the Axson school project, the 19-member Council unanimously approved companion Ordinances 2024-0902 and 2024-0903, which respectively change the land use of the property from Public Buildings and Facilities to Community/Commercial General and rezone the site 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.
On Jan. 14, Council gave final approval to Ordinance 2024-0880, designating the school as a city of Jacksonville historic landmark. The owners sought the designation.
Main Street Food Park
For the mini-golf operation, Council voted 18-0 in favor of a rezoning from Industrial Light to Planned Unit Development for a vacant warehouse property at 2403 N. Market St. The rezoning was contained in Ordinance 2024-0981. Council member Will Lahnen, who was excused from the early portion of the meeting, was not present for the vote.
Hector Zayas applied for the rezoning. The property owner is listed in city documents as Oakshire Holdings LLC of Miami.
Zayas and his wife, both U.S. Navy veterans, previously operated the Main Street Food Park at 1352 N. Main St. He told members of the Council Land Use and Zoning Committee that the couple had hoped to expand the Main Street Food Park but were limited by the lack of an enclosed dining area at that site.
According to a site plan attached to the ordinance, a warehouse on the property would be transformed into a food court with an art gallery and entertainment space. A playground and splash pad, bathrooms, stage and food kiosk would be built on a lot adjacent to the warehouse to the east. The mini-golf course would occupy the far eastern portion of the 0.6-acre property.
Beer, wine and liquor would be served on the site, according to a staff report on the rezoning application.
The staff report said the two-story warehouse building on the site was built in 1959.
The Phoenix district, under development by Miami-based Future of Cities, is a mixed-use project on 8.3 acres of mostly vacant 20th-century industrial buildings.
The $38 million first phase of the development, for which the city of Jacksonville provided $5.5 million in incentives, involves the adaptive reuse of several of the buildings.
The first renovated building, the 17,000-square-foot Emerald Station, opened in October 2024.