Amendment 3 is having an impact on downtown development in Jacksonville before voters have even taken a stance on the property tax cuts.<\/p>\n
The city council finance committee delayed a vote on approving a grant for construction of a new Publix as part of Pearl Square until after Election Day.<\/p>\n
The land on Hogan Street is just about cleared and ready for a high rise with a Publix to anchor it, but before that happens, the developer and investors are looking for the city to meet them halfway.<\/p>\n
With a possible looming budget impact of hundreds of millions of dollars with Amendment 3 a month away from a ballot, city leaders are holding off until they see how the chips fall.<\/p>\n
“From day one, the incorporation of a grocery store downtown was a clear indication that we made it.,” said Jacksonville City Council Member Michael Boylan.<\/p>\n
Boylan said downtown revitalization was one of the first conversations he was a part of after he was elected.<\/p>\n
He said a grocery store was always central to those conversations, so he was pleased to learn of Gateway Jax’s plan to incorporate a Publix in Pearl Square.<\/p>\n
“It really takes us to the point in time where we truly can look at downtown as a viable place to live, work and play,” Boylan said.<\/p>\n
However, before we get to that “point in time,” city council members have a hurdle to consider – Amendment 3.<\/p>\n
“Let’s take, for the sake of discussion, that amendment three passes,” Boylan said. “Is there still a rationale or an argument to invest in this?”<\/p>\n
Boylan and the rest of the finance committee agreed Tuesday to delay a vote on a $28 million completion grant for the Publix and adjoining residential and retail space until after the property tax referendum is voted on on Election Day.<\/p>\n
If the property tax cuts are approved, city staff projects the city could lose around $200 million from the budget.<\/p>\n
Boylan wonders if incentives for downtown development, like the Publix, will be an obvious target for budget cuts.<\/p>\n
“It’s very real, the possibility, we may not see this happen, and I think it’s going to stunt any additional development downtown,” Boylan said.<\/p>\n
“I’m looking to create five to ten jobs at this property, a few blocks west of Publix, because, in large part, of this development,” said The Raven Owner Eric Adler during public comment at the committee meeting.<\/p>\n
The committee heard from a restaurant owner who said he understands the budget concerns, but hopes they don’t keep the Publix from coming to fruition.<\/p>\n
“Ask you to consider the other small business owners and the knock on effects this development will have for downtown business, residents and Jacksonville, in general,” Adler said.<\/p>\n
Boylan did say, regardless of how Amendment 3 plays out, he’s optimistic the city is getting to the point where downtown development will happen without city incentives.<\/p>\n
The city council will consider the Publix grant November 4th now, and they’ll have the decision, one way or the other on Amendment 3 to factor in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amendment 3 is having an impact on downtown development in Jacksonville before voters have even taken a stance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-422061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}