MONDAY August 10, 2020
Public
jaxdailyrecord.com • 35 cents
legal notices begin on page 3
Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
THE MATHIS REPORT
More people are living Downtown
Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
JWB Real Estate buys historic Federal Reserve Bank Building
A preview of the State of the Downtown report also offers insight into how the pandemic is affecting the urban core.
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
The Federal Reserve Bank Building is next to 218 W. Church St. on the same block, but Sifakis did not say anything about that structure. Sifakis The Seminole and Federal Reserve Bank buildings are opposite City Hall. “We are working on a project that we think will be a real asset Downtown,” Sifakis said. He said it would be a mixed-use development, but he did not have details or a time frame. “A key part of revitalizing any Downtown is clustering development,” he said. The building also is close to the
Downtown Jacksonville added more than 1,100 residents and about 770 apartment units since January 2019, according to Downtown Vision Inc.’s annual report. DVI CEO Jake Gordon and Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer previewed the data Aug. 6 during a JAX Chamber ImpactJAX Public Policy Committee State of the Downtown virtual forum. Gordon said the full report will be released Aug. 10. The data collected over 18 months ending in June found 6,137 residents living in Downtown’s Northbank and Southbank, up 18% from last year. The number of residential units Downtown was 3,851, a 20% increase. DVI says those units have an average 94% occupancy rate. Boyer said residential growth could slow temporarily because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but she predicts Downtown still will reach the DIA’s goal of 10,000 residents by 2024. “I believe that we may have a year delay in the middle here where things have slowed down, but we were on a trajectory where we would have easily been at 10,000 residents in the next three years. So maybe it’s four years,” Boyer said. DVI worked with real estate firm CBRE to compile data on residential and office vacancies. Gordon said Downtown’s 4.2 million square feet of Class A office space has a 14.6% vacancy rate. DVI and CBRE expect Class A vacancy to be below 14% when final secondquarter 2020 data is available.
SEE MATHIS, PAGE 2
SEE DOWNTOWN, PAGE 2
JACKSONVILLE
File image
JWB Real Estate bought the Federal Reserve Bank Building at 424 N. Hogan St. for $1.75 million. It’s next to the Seminole Building anchored by Sweet Pete’s candy shop that the investment group bought in January.
KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
“We are working on a project that we think will be a real asset Downtown,” says JWB Real Estate President Alex Sifakis.
Downtown investor JWB Real Estate Capital bought the Federal Reserve Bank Building at 424 N Hogan St. Through 218 W. Church LLC, JWB paid $1.75 million for the historic Federal Reserve Bank structure Aug. 3. It was built in 1922. The bank is next to the historic Seminole Building, anchored by Sweet Pete’s candy shop, that JWB bought in January. JWB Real Estate President Alex Sifakis said the Federal Reserve Bank Building property was not on the market. “We reached out to the seller directly,” Sifakis said by email Aug. 6. JWB bought the vacant three-story, roughly 18,000-square-foot building from Tbsop LLC, led by Jim Wiss. Tbsop holds a mortgage and security agreement of $800,000.
First Jacksonville Amazon fulfillment center sold The developer of the Northwest Jacksonville Amazon.com fulfillment center sold the property July 30 for $107.8 million to JDM Partners of Phoenix. RELP Duval LLC, part of USAA Real Estate Co. of San Antonio, sold the 169.18-acre property at 12900 Pecan Park Road to JDM AMZN JAX LLC. The Jacksonville center is at Duval and Pecan Park roads, just off Interstate 295 and a mile and a half south of Jacksonville International Airport. Amazon leases the center. The Seattle-based online retailer opened it in September 2017 to fulfill orders for small items.
VOLUME 107, NO. 187 • ONE SECTION