Jacksonville’s Downtown Investment Authority board voted 7-0 on Oct. 21 to approve a $49.27 million, 20-year tax incentive for Fleet Landing’s proposed senior-living tower at 111 Riverside Ave., the former Haskell headquarters site in Brooklyn. The vote clears a major hurdle for a project that could eventually house almost 500 seniors along the St. Johns River, though it still needs approval from Jacksonville City Council before moving forward.
The incentive is a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant, or REV Grant, that would rebate 75% of eligible incremental property taxes generated by the project over two decades, according to jaxtoday.org. As The Resident Community News reports, the grant needs sign-off from Jacksonville City Council because it deviates from the Business Investment and Development Plan’s usual 50% ceiling for Brooklyn riverfront REV Grants between Riverside Avenue and the St. Johns River, DIA CEO Colin Tarbert said. Fleet Landing requested the higher 75% rate based on its not-for-profit status, per a DIA staff report cited in that account.
A Higher Ask, With Strings Attached
DIA staff recommended approval of the 75% deviation on the condition that Fleet Landing agree to certain reinvestment requirements tied to the grant, according to the same DIA staff report. The REV Grant carries no reinvestment conditions during its first 10 years, but from years 11 through 20, Fleet Landing must reinvest an amount equal to 1.33 times its grant payments back into the project to maintain its quality, per The Resident Community News. Tarbert said the high-end product is built for wealthy individuals and that its quality should be maintained throughout the term of the grant.
Cost figures for the project have shifted across reporting. The Jax Daily Record puts the estimated total at $635.58 million, requiring a minimum private capital investment of $371.56 million under the DIA incentives agreement, while The Resident Community News cites an estimated total project cost of $635 million and a construction cost of roughly $326 million. Whether particular uses within the tower are taxable will ultimately be determined by the Duval County Property Appraiser’s office, the Jax Daily Record reports.
Conflicting Counts on Size and Units
Project descriptions have also varied in scale. News4JAX describes a 31-story tower with 284 senior-living residences, including 238 independent-living units and 46 units offering additional levels of care, while an earlier Jax Daily Record report described a 32-story tower with 239 independent-living residences, 28 assisted-living suites and 18 memory-care suites. The Resident Community News separately describes the project as a 26- to 31-story high-rise with approximately 284 residential units, broken down as 238 independent-living units, 28 assisted-living units and 18 memory-care units…