The Phoenix Arts & Innovation District would gain a new neighboring business with such features as a mini golf course, splash pad and performance space under a proposal endorsed Jan. 23 by the Jacksonville Planning Commission.
Commissioners voted 7-0 to recommend approval of legislation to rezone a vacant warehouse property at 2403 N. Market St. for redevelopment as a food court and entertainment operation.
Hector Zayas applied to rezone the property from Industrial Light to Planned Unit Development. 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. The name of the Market Street project is listed as “Main Street Food Park and Mini Golf Adventures” on documents attached to the legislation, Ordinance 2024-0981.
“We’re trying to expand, and we can’t expand there,” he told commissioners. “We need an indoors area. The weather was just killing us where we were at.”
According to a site plan attached to 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 site is immediately north of the Future of Cities’ Phoenix Arts & Innovation District , where the first phase of development is underway on 8.3 acres.
The $38 million initial phase of the development, for which the city of Jacksonville provided $5.5 million in incentives, involves adaptive reuse of several early 20th century industrial buildings. The first renovated building, the 17,000-square-foot Emerald Station, opened in October 2024.
The commission’s approval came with two conditions recommended by the city Planning and Development Department. The conditions bar amplified music from being played after 10 p.m. and require lighting to be directed away from any nearby residential buildings. In addition, an exterior lighting plan must be submitted to the planning staff for review.
A public hearing on Ordinance 2024-0981 is scheduled for Feb. 4 before the City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee.