JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Significant projects have broken ground in LaVilla.
Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Park and 90 plus townhomes are set to be built near the JTA Bus Terminal.
Joining those projects could be a Daily's gas station with a brewery and rooftop.
A concept that's raised questions among people in the community, especially given its location.
"As soon as you come across the bridge from Brooklyn you know Daily's has a pretty important site, so we want that site to be a statement as soon as you get into LaVilla," activist developer, Devonte Sykes, said.
The project includes 16 fueling stations, a multi-story building with a neighborhood market, restaurant space and rooftop bar.
The plot of land is the entire block between Forsyth, Bay, Broad and Jefferson streets.
Bold City Brewery owner, Brian Miller, said he plans to move his location on Bay Street to the mixed-use project. Saying the Daily's location offers space to have food and expand his business.
Several community members raised concerns during public comment at a Downtown Development Review Board workshop last Friday, saying there needed to be more collaboration ahead of and during the workshop.
"What we have not heard anything about is the community that's been there 150 years and that overall vision of how this fits into that and works with that," LaVilla Heritage Trail and Gateways Committee Chair, Ennis Davis, said at the DDRB meeting.
After hearing concerns from Davis and other people, the DDRB gave the project conceptual approval. But said Daily's needed more input from community members before submitting its proposal for final approval.
"What we wanted to present to Daily's is community engagement. Okay let's bring your idea to those who inhabit the community and are invested in the community," Sykes said.
A few blocks from the proposed site is one of those community members.
Terrance Pickett owns Crazy Beans Coffee and knows for his business to thrive others need to make the same commitment.
"We would like something that would complement the neighborhood. How does Daily's help this neighborhood? How does Daily's help the people of this neighborhood?" Pickett said.
Questions Sykes, Pickett and others plan to ask Daily's.
They said if it's done the right way, LaVilla can keep moving forward. Sykes said each project has to be cohesive so LaVilla can become a destination, rather than an afterthought.
"People who are in the millennial demographic, they're looking at going back into the cities going back into the metropolitans to inhabit those places and be interested in those things like walkability, density, living in the same community that you play in and that you work in," Sykes said.
First Coast News reached out to Jordan Elsbury, Mayor Lenny Curry's former chief of staff, who is representing Daily's, but declined First Coast News' interview request.