Rendering of the proposed UF graduate campus
In December 2024, The College of Florida Board of Trustees Governance Committee voted to choose an space across the Prime Osborn Conference Heart in LaVilla as the positioning for its extremely anticipated Downtown Jacksonville graduate campus. In February 2025, the Downtown Funding Authority and Mayor Donna Deegan introduced a proposal that might present 22 acres of property in southern LaVilla to make the campus a actuality. Included is the Prime Osborn advanced, together with the historic former Jacksonville Union Terminal prepare station, the adjoining conference construction, and related parking tons, in addition to different close by vacant parcels owned by the town that might be developed within the coming years.
The package deal additionally entails the acquisition of a privately owned property, the previous Interline constructing and parking tons, at the moment owned by a subsidiary of Gateway Jax, the builders behind one other main Downtown growth, the Pearl Road District. Buying the Interline is paramount for the larger UF campus deal, as UF plans to begin courses in August 2025, and move-in-ready buildings in LaVilla are few and much between.
Gateway Jax’s proposal for the Touchdown growth pad. Courtesy of Gateway Jax.
Buying the Interline property may very well be an costly proposition. Gateway’s asking value is $6.95 million, which would wish to come back from the town’s reserves. As such, the DIA is proposing a intelligent concept: commerce the property for one thing Jacksonville has far an excessive amount of of: vacant city-owned land. And never simply any land. DIA’s land swap could be for a key piece of land the town has hoped to see developed for years: the parcels on the former website of the Jacksonville Touchdown.
The land swap hits a number of Downtown priorities without delay.
At the beginning, it’s financially a terrific deal. The Touchdown parcels are evaluated at $5.5 million, considerably lower than the $6.9 million Gateway would require in an outright buy. Moreover, it fulfills a significant goal in shelling out vacant property. Downtown Jacksonville is overloaded with parking craters and lifeless area, together with many owned by the town. (In reality, 182 acres of city-owned property throughout Downtown is vacant). DIA has properly made an initiative of getting this land within the palms of personal builders and again on the tax rolls to generate exercise and income for our Downtown.
Rendering exhibiting proposed mixture of makes use of. Courtesy of Gateway Jax.
However one of the best accomplishment of the land swap proposal is that it will get growth achieved on the Touchdown pads. For years after the time the town authorities made the disastrous resolution to purchase and demolish the outdated Touchdown, the town struggled to get something in addition to grass taking place on the website. Even the portion of the positioning focused for personal growth has struggled to get off the bottom, with one main proposal for a tower on the website proving unfeasible regardless of appreciable metropolis incentives. This was a blow for the prospects of the entire park, because the personal growth was particularly focused to generate income for the maintenance and programming of the riverfront park.
Issues modified significantly when Donna Deegan took workplace in July 2023, and he or she dedicated to transferring Riverfront Plaza and different long-neglected Downtown initiatives ahead. The park parts of the positioning are at the moment in progress, however the growth to assist it has been a lacking piece.
With the land swap, the event could be within the palms of Gateway, one developer who’s already confirmed they’ll break floor on a significant venture simply up the road. The Gateway proposal is spectacular, however life like, creating a brand new tower with a resort area, condos, and ground-floor retail that generates exercise and far wanted income for Riverfront Plaza. And higher but, it’ll be achieved now, not at some potential future level, so the event and the income it infuses into the park can get began because the Riverfront Plaza will get able to open.
The opposite choice on the desk is just to buy the Interline constructing and cope with the Touchdown parcel at some later time. This selection is favored by some Metropolis Council members and some group advocates, and in a vacuum, that is the choice that might have to be achieved to make the UF campus occur. However fortuitously, Downtown Jacksonville shouldn’t be in a vacuum, and sensible, artistic choices can be found.
The acquisition choice spends cash the town doesn’t have to spend and kicks the can on growth on the Touchdown website down the street for a minimum of months, if not years. In contrast, the land swap saves taxpayers cash, will get a high-profile lifeless area again on the tax rolls, and permits an important venture to assist our waterfront park.
The selection is obvious. The land swap is one of the best deal on the desk for Jacksonville taxpayers and the way forward for our Downtown.
Editorial by Kelsi Hasden. Contact Kelsi at khasden@moderncities.com.