{"id":423113,"date":"2026-10-09T09:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/423113\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T09:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:34:25","slug":"council-president-says-approving-downtown-publix-incentives-before-amendment-3-vote-would-be-risky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/423113\/","title":{"rendered":"Council president says approving Downtown Publix incentives before Amendment 3 vote would be risky"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville City Council\u2019s Finance Committee on Tuesday deferred a vote on the multi-million-dollar cash incentive for Gateway Jax to bring a Publix store Downtown until after the Amendment 3<\/a> outcome.<\/p>\n

It is a $49.65 million incentive package for the developer\u2019s proposed $140.15 million, 14-story residential and retail high-rise near City Hall that Gateway says will house a full-service Publix.<\/p>\n

At issue is the $28.25 million cash completion grant in the deal that some council members worry would be a struggle for the city to finance if Florida voters approve the homestead property tax cut referendum Nov. 3. <\/p>\n

The Jacksonville City Council Auditor\u2019s Office has estimated that if the referendum, known as Amendment 3, passes, the city will experience a $200 million drop in revenue for the 2027-28 fiscal year and $300 million by 2028-29.<\/p>\n

Tuesday deferral came after the council\u2019s Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee voted 5-2 on Monday to advance the bill that would award the incentives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do this incentive deal right now, without knowing what our shortfall is going to be, to me, it\u2019s just irresponsible,\u201d Jacksonville City Council President Nick Howland said. \u201cOn council, I represent taxpayers \u2014 and for them, it\u2019s more prudent to wait and see what happens with Amendment 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone on council agrees with the delay. District 7 Councilman Jimmy Peluso, a supporter of the project, said the developer has already proven it can deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of renderings in the past, and a lot of things have never been built,\u201d Peluso said. \u201cThe fact that we have a real developer with serious capital behind them \u2014 real private money actually developing stuff \u2014 it signals to me that we have a serious developer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peluso also argued the project would have a ripple effect on Downtown\u2019s broader commercial development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this project gets completed, with the grocer on the bottom, with the Publix, that\u2019s going to set up all the other retailers to want to come here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The proposed residential tower and grocery store is part of Pearl Square, a more than $1 billion mixed-use neighborhood Gateway Jax is building on the Northwest side of Downtown near City Hall. <\/p>\n

Gateway is demolishing the former First Baptist Church auditorium at 119 W. Beaver St. to make room for the new high-rise. Publix is the tenant planned for the 37,000-square-foot retail space on the ground level. The building also would have 259 residential apartments. <\/p>\n

In addition to the completion grant, the proposed agreement with the city also includes a $21.412 million 75% property tax refund over 17 years, called a REV Grant. <\/p>\n

If approved by Council, the money would go to Gateway to subsidize the building\u2019s construction. Publix would lease the space and would not receive any of the city dollars.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville City Council\u2019s Finance Committee on Tuesday deferred a vote on the multi-million-dollar cash incentive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2152,9000,116,118,117,2231],"class_list":["post-423113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-development","tag-downtown-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-publix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423113","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=423113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}