A report is out that sheds a lot of light on the state of downtown Jacksonville.
Downtown properties have a market value of almost $2 billion but more than half of that value is exempt from property taxes, according to a study done by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund.
That’s primarily because of the large percentage of government-owned property.
The study looked at the downtown area on the Northbank with boundaries stretching fromthe Prime Osborn Convention Center to the stadium complex and from the St. Johns River to State Street.
Goverment owns 55 percent of the acres downtown, according to the report.
The study found these are the major property owners in the area:
- Vestcor – 3 buildings (1 garage), 240 parcels (237 residential condo units)
- City of Jacksonville – 64 buildings, 159 parcels
- Demiray Holdings Inc. – 66 residential condo units at 311 W. Ashley (Demiray based in Wellington, FL)
- Wayne Hogan – 33 office condo units at 233 E. Bay (Blackstone Bldg.)
- Talon Engineering/Holding – 27 office condo units at 233 E. Bay
- Lawrence C. Rolfe – 25 office condo units a 233 E. Bay St.
- JTA – 24 parcels
- Lavilla Partners – 22 parcels (Ted Pappas, registered agent)
- First Baptist Church – 13 buildings, 19 parcels
- Salvation Army – 5 buildings, 15 parcels
- Partnerships related to Chris Hionides – 12 buildings, 17 parcels
The overall vacancy rate of downtown property is 25 percent. The analysis found 73 vacant structures, 11 of which are owned by the city.
?The Stadium District area has the most vacant land at 89.5 acres. It includes the Shipyards property, owned by the city, that Jaguars owner Shad Khan has proposed to develop.
In terms of housing, there were 1,988 housing units at the time of the study, of which 738 were owned, and 1,250 were rentals. That number will soon be considerably higher as new housing such as The Lofts at LaVilla nears completion and more housing is on the way.
The study concludes the downtown area has abundant redevelopment opportunities due to its rich inventory of vacant land and buildings.
?In LaVilla alone the study found 36.5 acres of vacant land, of which more than 23 percent is government owned.
The full Jesse Ball duPont Fund study, entitled “Downtown Jacksonville Our Assets and Opportunities,” is available here.
?Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
