The fate of a proposed land swap that would provide city-owned property for the University of Florida graduate campus and generate a 17-story private development on the former site of the Jacksonville Landing is uncertain after a Downtown Investment Authority committee raised questions and concerns over it during a Feb. 13 meeting.
The DIA Retail Enhancement and Property Disposition Committee opted to defer a vote on a resolution to facilitate the exchange of city properties for the Interline Brands Inc. building at 801 W. Bay St., which is owned by the developers of the Gateway Jax project Downtown.
The proposed agreement calls for the city to provide the Interline Brands building to UF and for Gateway to develop a tower with a hotel, residential units, retail, restaurants and public spaces on the northeast corner of the Landing site, now called Riverfront Plaza.
In deferring the vote until the full DIA board meeting Feb. 19, committee members sought more information related to the proposal, including an estimate of how much Gateway Jax might seek in public incentives for the Riverfront Plaza project and a price at which the developers would consider selling the Interline building to the city outright without the land exchange.
In addition, the committee requested that the DIA staff and Gateway negotiate a price at which the city could repurchase the Riverfront Plaza property from the developers if their plans for the site fall through.
Committee members asked whether the building could be leased to UF, purchased by the city or acquired from swaps of other property as opposed to being obtained through a trade of prime riverfront development sites in the heart of Downtown.
Since the Landing was demolished in 2019, there has been only one proposal for the Riverfront Plaza development site. The plan by American Lions for a residential tower was abandoned because of increased costs and a lack of financing.
Boyer: Interline building a linchpin
UF plans to use the Interline building to begin offering classes as early as the fall of 2025.
DIA CEO Lori Boyer told committee members that the building was a linchpin to the campus, saying the university’s selection of LaVilla “probably doesn’t proceed” if the Interline building is not made available in some way to UF.
“I think it would jeopardize the selection of LaVilla,” she told a reporter after the meeting.
“That’s where the classes start and will be held for three years or more while they’re building their first building. If you don’t have that there, then what do you do?”
Committee members questioned whether the Interline property was a fair trade for the city-owned riverfront sites. According to a DIA staff report, the Duval County Property Appraiser lists the just market value of the Interline building at $5.55 million.
Boyer said Gateway initially offered to sell the property at $7.5 million to $8 million before reaching terms on the property swap.
Bryan Moll, Gateway Jax’s principal, told committee members the Interline building alone was worth $4 million to $5 million. The property also contains a development pad that makes it more valuable.
Gateway paid $4 million for the two-story, 38,136-square-foot Interline building through 801 Bay St LLC on Oct. 31. The seller was HD Supply Facilities Maintenance Ltd. of Atlanta.
“We would be happy to continue to own 801 W. Bay St.,” he said. “This is not a land grab.”
Moll said the Gateway Jax partners agreed to exchange it for the opportunity to develop alongside the Riverfront Plaza park project and to help facilitate the plans for the UF campus.
“Even though it’s not sexy, it is a valuable site that we’d be trading,” he said.
Moll declined to estimate the amount of public incentives the partners would seek for the Riverfront Plaza development, but said there would definitely be a request.
“Any property development Downtown today requires incentives,” he said.
DIA President Patrick Krechowski, who sat in the meeting as a voting committee member, urged the committee members to consider that the value of the Riverfront Plaza properties was diminished because of the city decision to build the park there. The value would be higher, he said, if developers had more latitude in how to use it.
The timing of development on the site is relevant to the two-phase plan for the park. Phase I, which covers the western half of the plaza, is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. When it’s finished, the Phase II improvements for the eastern half of the park are planned to start.
Having the private and public development occur in concert would help avoid construction-related closures and complications.
In the committee’s 4-1 vote to defer the matter to the DIA board meeting, Krechowski voiced the no vote.
Questions and concerns
Other committee members said they needed more information. New DIA board member Cameron Hooper, who attended the meeting as a nonvoting member, said he felt the process was being rushed and that he considered the land swap to be a completely different issue from the UF campus plans.
He also raised concerns about the viability of Gateway’s riverfront plans.
“This incentive package has got to be huge, I assume, on top of the funding that Gateway has already received,” he said.
Gateway Jax is receiving city incentives for its unrelated Pearl Square project in the NorthCore area of Downtown.
Resolutions approved
In a meeting that spanned more than three hours, committee members voted to recommend approval of several resolutions for the disposition of other city-owned properties in LaVilla for the UF campus.
With the Interline building included, the city plans to provide about 23 acres to UF.
The properties include the historic Jacksonville Terminal train station, the connected newer portion of the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center and land stretching west to Interstate 95, an unimproved lot north of the train station and a neighboring parking lot to the east across Park Street.
Mike Weinstein, Mayor Donna Deegan’s chief of staff, told committee members that Deegan was “very supportive of what’s in front of you,” meaning the proposed swap and dispositions.
When UF selected LaVilla in December 2024, Deegan hailed the announcement as a major step toward Downtown revitalization. If fully built-out, the campus could serve more than 20,000 students while providing research partnerships for local businesses and creating a pipeline of talent for Jacksonville employers.
The exchange with Gateway involves a 1-acre site on the northwest corner of Riverfront Plaza and an adjacent 1.6-acre parking lot to the east.
DIA Resolution 2025-02-04 would offer the 1-acre site for disposition and provide an option on the parking lot. A related piece of legislation, Resolution 2025-02-08, would allow Gateway access to the property to perform due diligence for environmental issues, geotechnical exploration, surveying and other site work.
In accordance with DIA bylaws for city-owned properties within Downtown’s eight districts, the properties would be offered to the public for disposition.
Resolution 2025-02-04 would allow Boyer to negotiate a redevelopment agreement with Gateway “if no alternate responsive and qualified proposals are received, or if they are determined by the CEO to be lower in value or unresponsive.”
The dispositions of the LaVilla properties would be subject to the same process, with the properties going to UF unless a more valuable proposal is submitted. UF and the city have already agreed to terms on the properties, Boyer said.
The resolution states that the city “anticipates the fair value of the 801 W Bay Street property improved with a vacant 38,378 square foot building will exceed the fair value of the unimproved Riverfront Plaza Development Pad and East Landing Lot with various development limitations.”
Among those limitations are a 30-foot sewer line that may not be moved, a 50-foot easement along the Main Street Bridge and an intruding off-ramp with an estimated cost of at least $3.25 million to remove.
UF plans
Under UF’s plans, an architecture master’s program that operates out of the Groover-Stewart Building at 25 N. Market St. would be moved into the Interline building in August 2025. The Florida Semiconductor Institute also would be in the Interline building in the near term before being moved elsewhere on the campus.
Kurt Dudas, UF vice president for strategic initiatives, told committee members the university plans to construct its first building on the parking lot to the northeast of the train station. He described that as a “flagship-type” building that could eventually become the home of the Florida Semiconductor Institute.
The second building would be built on the empty lot directly north of the station.
Boyer told committee members that the combined value of the two lots is $5.9 million.