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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
DIA board grants extensions to JACKSONVILLE Ambassador Hotel developer
THE MATHIS REPORT
Daily Record
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JACKSONVILLE
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
Prospect requests $4.5M for 673 jobs The “Project End Game” financial technology company wants to lease space Downtown. BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
$9 million mortgage at 10% interest for the project with Direct Lending Partners of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, according to a Jan. 22 letter from the lender to the developer. Documents provided by the city show the project also will be financed through a $3.85 million loan from Local Initiatives Support Corp., equity capital from AXIS, incentives from Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and other sources. The DIA rejected AXIS’s force majeure claim. A March 10 letter from the company’s attorney said a tax credit investor it secured to provide project financing notified AXIS on March 23, 2020, it was
An unidentified financial technology company proposes to expand into Jacksonville and create 673 full-time jobs by year-end 2024 at an average wage of $97,000. The company, code-named Project End Game, seeks $4.523 million in city and state grants. The prospect is considering coming to the Jacksonville area and to partner with an existing company that has invested in its development. It would start by leasing space at an existing Downtown location and is willing to consider moving its headquarters Downtown. A city Office of Economic Development project summary says the company designs and manages software for financial institutions. It projects a capital investment of $6.4 million, comprising real estate improvements, IT equip-
SEE DIA, PAGE 2
SEE MATHIS, PAGE 2
File photo
AXIS Hotels LLC wants to renovate the historic Ambassador Hotel into a 127-room TRYP by Wyndham.
City Council legislation could give AXIS Hotels until December 2022 to finish renovation of the historic Downtown building. BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
The Downtown Investment Authority board gave AXIS Hotels LLC until June 30 to close on financing for its estimated $17.6 million renovation of the historic Ambassador Hotel. The board voted 7-0 on June 16 to allow the Augustine Development Group LLC subsidiary time to cure a default on its redevelopment agreement with the city
for the 420 N. Julia St. property. The board’s vote also gave the developer until July 31 to begin construction. The redevelopment agreement, approved by City Council in early 2019, went into default after AXIS failed to start construction by a Feb. 15 deadline. The DIA had issued the maximum performance schedule extension allowed under the agreement. The board’s vote June 16 also supports extending the developer’s construction completion date to Dec. 31, 2022, but legislation permitting the extension will have to be approved by Council. Under AXIS Hotel’s plans, the Ambassador would become a 127-room TRYP by Wyndham. AXIS Hotels is finalizing terms for a
Sephora heading into Kohl’s Sephora is coming to the Kohl’s department store in the Shoppes at Bartram Park. The city approved a permit June 16 for remodeling of 2,500 square feet within Kohl’s at 13760 Old St. Augustine Road. Thomas Grace Construction of Stillwater, Minnesota, is the contractor for the $193,600 project. Kohl’s announced Dec. 1 it would add Sephora beauty products departments in 200 stores by the fall.
VOLUME 108, NO. 153 • ONE SECTION