JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The deal is off and the next step could be the courtroom for the Laura Street Trio. The mayor's office pulled the agreement between the city and developer to renovate 3 historic buildings in downtown Jacksonville.
The project has been nearly a decade in the making.
In the immediate future the foreclosure suit brought against the developer by the mayor's office calls for the developer to pay more than $800,000 in code violations for letting the Laura Street Trio fall into disrepair with graffiti. The end of this deal could have a major impact on other businesses.
"This project that we've been looking at for many, many years is just so difficult financially to do," Mayor Deegan's Chief of Staff, Mike Weinstein, said.
Weinstein said that a number of factors led to the city pulling their agreement with the SouthEast Group to develop the Laura Street Trio.
"The project that has apartments, hotel facility and retail, the combination generated such a high degree of construction cost that it became financially unsound for the city at this time," Weinstein said.
A document provided by the mayor's office shows the developer requested the city to increase its funding by more than $90 million while the total project costs rose by more than $150 million.
Part of a statement by SouthEast Group managing director Stephen Atkins reads:
"Our community deserves a downtown that celebrates its past and embraces its future. The Laura Street Trio is part of our city's foundation, and we have a responsibility to make sure it stands for generations to come."
But the here and now is important to other business owners in downtown. Ricki Ben Simon is the co-owner of Gili's Kitchen, which is less than a block from the Laura Street Trio.
"I want to see more residential people, I want to see more residents to come out at night to eat, it will change the city," said Ben Simon, who said the Laura Street Trio is far from the only set of vacant buildings near her restaurant.
"The property value of these commercial buildings that are substantially vacant continues to come down," Weinstein said. "The challenge with this particular property at this particular time is the rental rates that downtown is getting, they're not as high as they could be, should be, will be."
Weinstein said that the Laura Street Trio has the possibility to be an extremely valuable piece of property. Atkins said that the SouthEast Group hopes to work with a special committee of City Council to secure funding for the project.