Time is money on the private side, so I don't know what this means for big complicated projects needing public incentives like the Laura Trio. Nevertheless, it seems like 2016 will be a slow year for DT redevelopment:
QuoteAs Downtown Investment Authority CEO Aundra Wallace spoke Tuesday afternoon at the River Club, a series of potential projects could be seen through the windows behind him.
The empty land of the Shipyards and, on the Southbank, land owned by JEA. The Landing, resting in shadows. The Laura Street Trio, Berkman Plaza II, the abandoned county courthouse.
Whatever will be done with those project, big or small, it won't happen soon.
The message Wallace had for about 90 people at a meeting of real estate networking group CREW Jacksonville: Until pension reform is complete, the city will sit on the sidelines of Downtown revitalization efforts.
Last week, Mayor Lenny Curry's chief financial officer, Sam Mousa, put the brakes on any future Downtown projects until City Hall's efforts to reform the city's pension system come to pass. That could be a while: Curry's plan to fund the city's unfunded pension liability with a half-cent sales tax will require a change in state law and for the residents of Jacksonville to approve the new tax in a referendum.
Full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/blog/morning-edition/2016/02/dia-plans-to-continue-small-ball-in-lieu-of-city.html
Awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ::)
Well, I understand that but I seriously hope, for the sake of DT Jacksonville, that the Trio falls in the category of "small ball." Especially since it sounds like we don't know if the reform will even pass through anytime soon. Could be one year, two years . . . ten years.
^It does not fall into "small ball" territory.