Issue No. 6 — Downtown waits on Nov. 3, a senior tower asks differently, and the JTA loan clears 15–0

This week's issue is a day or two late, and we're sorry about that. The week's biggest development story isn't a groundbreaking. It's a date: Tuesday, November 3.

The Lead

A statewide ballot question is now setting downtown's calendar.

On Tuesday, October 6, the Council Finance Committee was set to vote on nearly $50 million in incentives for Gateway Jax's 15-story tower at 119 W. Beaver St.: about 260 apartments over a 31,000-square-foot Publix, the downtown grocery store people have asked for for years. The package is Ordinance 2026-0541, a $21.41 million property-tax rebate (a REV grant) plus a $28.25 million completion grant. The day before, the Neighborhoods committee had recommended it 5–2.

Finance deferred it instead, with Rahman Johnson the lone no vote on the seven-member panel. Council President Nick Howland gave the reason in one sentence: "The responsible thing to do, whether you like the project or not, is to defer it until after Amendment 3." (JDR)

Amendment 3 would raise Florida's non-school homestead exemption in steps to $150,000 and then $250,000, and it would cut the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. It needs 60% of voters to pass. Council auditors estimate it would cost the city about $200 million in revenue in its first year and $300 million in its second. (JDR)

The money detail explains why this hits downtown specifically. A REV grant gives back part of the new tax a project creates. A completion grant is cash out of the operating budget, the same budget the auditors' estimate would shrink. Finance chair Will Lahnen has said that if the cuts come, Council would protect nonprofits, parks, libraries, public works, police and fire: "Downtown incentives are not on that list." Mayor Donna Deegan said in June that downtown incentives would need a new revenue source if the measure passes. (JDR)

The Beaver Street deal is scheduled to return to Finance on Wednesday, November 4, the morning after the vote. Ron Salem, who voted against it in committee: "If this vote was taken after Nov. 3, I'd look at it in a completely different way."

Downtown & the Riverfront

Fleet Landing asks a different way. The DIA board takes up Resolution 2026-10-02 on Wednesday, October 21: up to $49.27 million for Fleet Landing Riverside, a 31-story senior-living tower at 111 Riverside Ave. in Brooklyn, on the former Haskell headquarters campus. It would have at least 275 residences for residents 62 and up, a restaurant on the Riverwalk, and more than 130 full-time jobs. DIA puts the development cost at about $381.56 million and the return at $1.35 per city dollar. The request is a 20-year, 75% REV grant with no completion grant. The record doesn't say whether that choice was strategic. Fleet Landing still needs final DDRB approval, which follows a 5–1 conceptual vote in March, and City Council has the last word. (JDR)

UF's downtown campus moves from ribbon to wiring. On Sunday, October 11, Jacobs Engineering filed five JEA service requests covering 27.5 acres along Bay Street, the sites for 17 eventual buildings. Phase 1 is listed at $287.5 million, and UF says it has lined up $245 million in state money and private gifts. The first new building has conceptual DDRB approval, granted September 10. Final approval is still pending, and the listed construction start is December 23. (JDR)

A Southbank street built for crowds. DIA's roughly $2.5 million plan would turn 800 feet of Flagler Avenue, between Prudential Drive and Riverplace Boulevard, into a "festival street." It adds retractable bollards, wider sidewalks, shade trees and vendor power outlets, and the street stays open to cars between events. Designers from GAI Consultants briefed the DDRB on Thursday, October 8. The board took no vote. Design should be final in January, and the target groundbreaking is summer 2027. (JDR)

From City Hall

The JTA loan is done. On Tuesday, October 13, the full Council passed Ordinance 2026-0780 15–0 as emergency legislation. It lets JTA borrow up to $30 million in local gas-tax money, interest-free, repayable by September 30, 2037, mostly to retire a line of credit the agency used to pay vendors. "We all support it. We really have no choice," said Ron Salem. (Jacksonville Today)

Then the auditors spoke. At the Council select committee's second meeting on Thursday, October 15, city auditors showed JTA ran over budget in 2022 and 2023 without flagging significant stress. Its 2024 quarterly projections showed surpluses, and fiscal 2025 closed about $18.9 million short. Auditors called some projections inappropriate and noted one contract booked as a half-year expense instead of a full year. One limit stood out: the Council Auditor can't compel JTA to report, because the authority was created by state law. Changing that likely runs through Tallahassee. (Jacksonville Today)

Deals & Dollars

Heavy industry, name withheld. InLight Real Estate Partners has filed to rezone 47.5 acres at Kraft and Eastport roads in North Jacksonville from industrial business park to heavy industrial, for a "heavy industrial manufacturing facility." The site can hold up to 900,000 square feet build-to-suit, with possible CSX rail. The end user is under a nondisclosure agreement. Managing partner David Burch said it is not the delayed Holon plant. The applicant is Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, and both the Planning Commission and Council must sign off. (JDR)

Worth Watching

Wednesday, October 21, 2 p.m. The DIA board votes on Fleet Landing's $49.27 million REV request.

Thursday, October 22, 1 p.m. The Planning Commission meets on rezonings and variances.

Tuesday, October 27. The full Council votes on Aleizha Batson, a Florida Blue communications lead and former JTA community-relations manager, for the Planning Commission's District 5 seat, which covers much of the Westside. The Rules Committee approved her 7–0 on Monday, October 19. She would replace Moné Holder, who won a citywide Council seat in September. (JDR)

Monday, November 2. The Skyway stops running, and most bus routes move to reduced schedules.

Tuesday, November 3. The Amendment 3 vote.

Wednesday, November 4. The Beaver Street Publix tower returns to Finance. A full Council vote could follow Tuesday, November 10.

Thursday, November 12. Next DDRB meeting. Still no formal application on record for the Hard Rock at 500 E. Bay St.

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Moving Jacksonville Forward is an independent publication from bizooma. Sources: Jacksonville Daily Record, Jacksonville Today, and public City of Jacksonville records.