The Downtown Investment Authority board granted approval to the owner of Jacksonville’s historic Federal Reserve Building to take on additional debt for tenant improvements in the 103-year-old structure.
The board voted 7-0 on March 19 in favor of DIA Resolution 2025-03-02, which authorizes building owner 218 W Church LLC to incur an additional $740,000 of debt as an advance under its senior loan.
According to the resolution, that funding will “help cover tenant improvement costs expected to exceed $6 million.”
The June club was awarded permits from the city in March for an 18,430-square-foot, $6.4 million build-out of the building at 424 N. Hogan St.
The LLC is connected to JWB Real Estate Capital President Alex Sifakis, whose company revived the building after buying it for $1.75 million in 2020.
The DIA board and Jacksonville City Council approved an $8.6 million incentive package in 2021 for the project, granting JWB a forgivable and deferred principal loan package that was the first awarded under the DIA’s Downtown Preservation and Restoration Program (DPRP).
According to the resolution, the redevelopment agreement between the city and JWB, which is identified as the “borrower,” restricts JWB from placing additional debt on the property during the term of the loan documents without DIA approval.
The resolution states that DIA staff evaluated the request and determined that the project remained within the DPRP guideline with the inclusion of the additional debt.
A DIA staff report said the development closed with senior debt of $2.91 million. A lender standing by to make the advance confirmed that the developer was requesting it, the report said.
Current equity on the site is listed on the staff report at $4.6 million, well above the $1.2 million minimum equity requirement for the project to remain eligible for the program.
The staff report says the request “does not modify the City funding or any terms of the RDA (redevelopment agreement) or Loan Documents in place between the City and the Borrower.”