Culinary Institute of America exploring Downtown campus

[Zac T]

Found this interesting piece tucked in a business journal article about Visit Jax. This could potentially be a huge get for Downtown if it comes to fruition. Wonder what part of Downtown they would be looking at...

Committee member Dennis Chan briefed the council on "Project Caymus," the Culinary Institute of America's potential expansion into Jacksonville. After CIA President Michiel Bakker met with city leaders, he pointed to Jacksonville's emphasis on health, its population growth and its military presence as reasons the city stands out.

Plans under discussion would establish a Southeast headquarters campus that includes a world-class secondary school, a restaurant, retail components and a four-star hotel downtown. Supporters say the project aligns with the TDC's newly adopted strategic pillars and could generate an estimated $1 billion in tourism revenue over 15 years, comparable to other markets with a CIA campus. The council approved sending a letter of support to Bakker backing the effort.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/02/12/jax-draws-new-lines-on-bed-tax-use.html

Here's a look at their San Antonio campus which would probably be most similar to a Jacksonville campus

https://www.ciachef.edu/cia-texas/

[thelakelander]

Immediately adjacent to the Pearl Street District, Old Stanton would be a great building to work into something like this.

[jcjohnpaint]

Looks like they have been working on that building a few weeks ago.

[thelakelander]

They got some grant money years ago to replace the roof and windows. Hoping they get some new windows installed soon. Its not good for the building to be exposed like it has been for the last few months.

[Ned Plimpton]

I've heard this concept is potentially slated for the .8 acre parcel that the city recently carved out of the Ford on Bay property.  If the school will go on this property and the hotel and retail were to use the remainder of that block in a later phase, that makes sense to me.  Otherwise .8 acres for the proposed uses seems quite small.

[OspreyGrad]

It's nice to get inspiration from other cities' reuse of older brick buildings. Jacksonville sort of reminds me of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore due to similarities in their past. To bad we don't have the population density downtown to revitalize the area sooner than later. I wonder if the city can set a lower property tax rate for downtown businesses and residents to attract new tenants.

[jcjohnpaint]

Drove by today and they are working on windows. Looks like reframing

[Jankelope]

This sounds like a genuinely amazing prospect.