Diary of a Downtown Renovation: Planning Phase 1

A diary is a way to capture events as they happen. It is not always sexy, especially when one is dealing with multiple departments at the City, bidding out a project, and working with lenders. Just hang in there with me because there will be a point where you will start to physically see progress! But first let’s retrace my story: After our Landmark Application was approved through the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission (JHPC), we had to wait patiently as the application made its way through City Council.

The first stop after JHPC was the full City Council for an initial approval. My partner in crime attended that meeting because I was out of town. These meetings are not the most fun to attend. There are lots of public speakers and it takes forever to get through the agenda. Sometimes there are people there for public comment who just want a platform to speak who are not even addressing anything on the agenda. It can feel tiresome and a bit like the Wild West. We did not speak. Our application was quickly moved to the Land Use and Zoning Committee (LUZ).

The LUZ hearing in February was on my husband’s birthday, so I took that meeting. It was a little more sparsely attended as you can see from the photo. After waiting on several other agenda items, I was asked to come up to the podium and speak to my support of the Landmark status. Then it was quickly and unanimously approved! After that meeting, there was one more City Council meeting for final approval and then we had to wait to receive the official documents from legislative services.

In March, we had a meeting with the restauranteurs who plan to occupy the first floor retail space. Our architect, Brooke Robbins, reviewed the space plans and flow for the first floor and we made some adjustments based on the restauranteurs’ input. We also had a few other friends in the restaurant business review our plans to make sure we were thinking of everything. I am very glad we did because we caught several important things, such as the installation of floor drains, which we didn’t have in our initial plans.

During this time, we also had a local developer and a Tampa-based entrepreneur review the layouts for our two residential floors. These are very small spaces, studio apartments, and we wanted to make sure were were maximizing efficiencies with the existing space. After each of these meetings, we continued to work with our architect to refine the plans. Once they were ready, we conducted walkthroughs with several contractors. You can see in the video the current condition of the building when we walked through! Soon after, our architect sent out the request for proposals. And then we waited….

In April we met with Buildup Downtown’s Executive Director, Allan DeVault, to discuss creative ideas for things like our grease trap location. I agree this is not a exciting topic but when you have a building that is surrounded on all sides by other structures, there isn’t a lot of room for basic operational needs like trash cans and grease traps. Buildup Downtown is great at navigating issues like this that may effect multiple downtown properties versus each business negotiating these things individually. One idea that came out of a meeting with a St. Augustine restauranteur is the city hosting centralized trash compactor locations that businesses can pay into use. This would be really helpful when a structure is literally located on the lot lines. That probably won’t happy for us but it is a great idea as downtown continues to grow.

A couple weeks ago we received the proposals back from contractors. Unfortunately, the project came back about a million dollars more than estimated only 6 months ago. This is a good example of how much construction costs continue to rise. We also altered the plans so I am sure that had an impact. We changed the residential floors from four one-bedroom apartments to the historic layout of eight studio apartments. We altered the front facade back to the historic appearance and added a few more windows to the north and south sides of the building. Those windows have to be constructed with fire-rated glass because of their proximity to the adjacent buildings. Oh, and we kept the original back porch on the third floor instead of closing it in (reduces square footage but creates a nice private outdoor space).

The current step we are working through is meeting with the architect to see if we can find any cost savings. Then we will work with the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) to categorize the budget and estimate how much we could possibly receive in incentives. After we know that number, we will be going back to our lenders to see about construction funding and bridge loans. Simultaneously, we have multiple architectural reviews at the city, state and national levels.

Again, I realize none of this is very appealing and fun but it is the background work that has to happen for a successful project. We are doing everything we can to make sure this project is done right the first time so that it can have a lasting impact on our community. Stay tuned as we move through this process. And if you are considering investing in downtown, contact me! I would be happy to help you navigate the process.

Diary of a Downtown Renovation: The Beginning

So… my husband and I did a thing. We bought a building in downtown Jacksonville! This year, we will start the arduous journey of restoring this Marsh & Saxelbye gem in the middle of our city center.

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We think it is beautiful. We both also have the ability to see what can be, not simply what is. That is what it takes to invest in historic buildings — to have the ability to identify what makes a building special, and to be a dreamer with the vision for a beautifully activated space.

We are so thankful to Ron Chamblin for entrusting us to make this a reality. What is our plan? We will build out a restaurant space on the first floor and four studio apartments on each of the second and third floors. We are so excited to make a difference in our city by helping to revitalize our urban core in this small way. Here is an article from the Jacksonville Daily Record that outlines some of the initial project ideas.

In future posts, I will highlight some of the history in more detail but I have to share a short tale of our downtown beauty. A version of her was constructed in the early 1900s (the earliest inhabitant I can find is 1903). She was originally a two-story wood rooming house with a large front porch. This was at a time when there were still a lot of single and multi family residences downtown, before the Great Florida Land Boom (a history for another day).

The rooming house sheltered so many over the years, some wafting in and out each year, while others stayed on for much longer.

One really interesting resident was Earl Seashole of the Florida Five Jazz Band who lived there from 1915 to 1917. Seashole’s band traveled the national Keith Vaudeville Circuit and was featured in a Victor Talking Machine Company Tour in 1921. Their first performance on that tour was at the Cohen Bros Department Store, which is now Jacksonville’s City Hall! Theodore A. Blinn, a prominent physician and surgeon from Ohio lived in the home from 1906 to 1910, and George T Woodward, operator of The Woodward Photography Studio on Forsyth Street, lived in the home with his wife in 1909.

In 1923, The Jacksonville Investment Corporation hired Marsh & Saxelbye architects, Jacksonville’s most prolific architectural firm of the 1920s, to redesign the building to include space for two retail stores on the first floor. 225 N Laura Street was one of Marsh & Saxelbye’s earliest mixed-use projects and one of only a handful of early small scale commercial designs in Downtown Jacksonville. The firm would go on to design many commercial and residentail buildings in Jacksonville, over 20 of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

September 1921 Music Trades

One of my favorite things about this project is that there was not any waste.

This was a Green Building Project before the term was coined.

The Specification Sheets (the City of Jacksonville has the original 1923 copy printed on linen) defines how the contractor will remove the porch, lift up the 2-story rooming house, and construct an entirely new first floor out of brick. Then they were to place the rooming house on top of the new first floor and construct a new second and third floor facade that would wrap the building and meet up with the rooming house. You can actually see where the 1923 construction meets up with the circa 1903 rooming house in the photo below that was taken by our architects using a drone.

I learned all of this information by doing a deep dive research project for a Landmark Application through the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission (JHPC). Our application was heard before the JHPC last last year and we were approved for the Landmark status — HORRAY! Later this month, the application goes to the full City Council for final approval. Wish us luck!

The process of doing development work downtown is a bear!

The first step was Landmark status. Since I was already doing all of the historical research for the Landmark Application, I went ahead and submitted Part 1 of the Federal Tax Credit Application. Did you know that you can get up to a 20% income tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic, income-producing buildings (if you go through the process with the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and the National Park Service (NPS)? It is a huge effort to file the three part application and get the appropriate approvals. Yet, it will be worth it once the project is completed. I just received notice this month that Part 1 has been approved! Another step completed!

The next steps involve the DIA and the DDRB. Late last year, we had our initial application reviewed and approved through the Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB). The DDRB is a mayoral-appointed committee of nine voting members who are tasked with reviewing design elements for new projects downtown. The idea is to ensure projects meet the downtown master plan, which includes things like walkability and engagement with the street.

Currently, we are working through architectural plans and test fits (the restaurant and apartment layouts on each floor). We also have to consider the modern building codes that are being forced into this historic space. It is so tough because this building has less than 2’ between it and other buildings — it is completely surrounded by other buildings in the back and on both sides, so there is only so much that we have to work with. The building is also only about 6,000 square feet, so we have been learning a lot about maximizing small spaces! Once we have the engineers approve the plans, we can move forward with obtaining estimates for the work. So many steps. But each one moves us a little bit closer to our goal of revitalizing this beautiful building.

I hope you will join us on our journey! My goal is to take you through the process through social media channels: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Stay posted for updates on our project and let me know what you think!

Initial Concept Drawing