J Magazine Summer 2018

ADDING UP
THE VACANT
DOWNTOWN
BUILDINGS
11
Number
of vacant
buildings
owned by
the city.
14
Percentage
of buildings
that are
vacant.
62
Percentage
of buildings
that are
more than
50 years old.
73
Number
of vacant
buildings.
81
Percentage
of buildings
locally
owned.
130
Number
of vacant
areas
owned by
the city.
160
Number
of acres
of vacant
land.
more on how dilapidated Downtown really
is,” said Ehas, a former chief administrative
officer for the Duval County Property Appraiser’s
Office. “It really is. It’s terrible.”
Civic philanthropy
can make a difference
The Elena Flats building had been vacant
for at least a decade when Meeks and
Tredennick bought it in 2015. He believes it
is one of two apartment buildings that were
built in the decade after the Great Fire of
1901.
Meeks wasn’t looking for another renovation
project, but Tredennick was concerned
because the owner had sought a
permit to tear it down. So the married couple
began what Meeks calls a “love project,”
restoring the building knowing they aren’t
likely to recoup their investment.
“We’ve lost so many old buildings Downtown,
it was just a shame to see another one
lost,” he said.
Plus, he added, as vice chairman of the
DIA, “I wanted to put my money where my
mouth was.”
Over the decades, the building at 122 E.
Duval St. evolved from four spacious apartments
to a rooming house with more than
20 small units. The current renovation will
return the building to a four-unit complex,
with each two-bedroom apartment being
about 2,000 square feet, including the front
and back porches.
Some developers believe the restrictions
and guidelines tied to historic preservation
projects are overly cumbersome. But Meeks
disagrees.
“If people have the right attitude going
in, I think they’ll find them more of a help
than a hindrance,” he said.
Those guidelines also help protect the
historic character in a neighborhood.
Meeks knows restoring a historic building
costs more — sometimes substantially
more — than what it will be worth, based
on current rent levels. That prevents most
developers from taking on those types of
projects.
And he understands the city doesn’t
have the money to fill every hole that exists
in that differential.
Meeks was hoping that gap could be
partially filled by people in town with the
resources to take on a project, seeing it as a
source of civic philanthropy.
But that hasn’t happened.
In several cities, those efforts are successfully
driven by nonprofits that help
developers fill the financing gap through
revolving loan funds donated by corporations.
Discussions about that approach for
Jacksonville began in 2014 with InvestJax,
which hasn’t yet funded a project.
What has worked
in other cities
Fifteen years ago, Cincinnati officials
took the bold step of creating a nonprofit
real estate development company to focus
on revitalizing its dilapidated Central
Business District and restoring an adjacent
neighborhood once considered one of the
most dangerous in the country.
Cincinnati Center City Development
Corp., known as 3CDC, soon took control of
two private investment funds that provided
loans to help bolster Downtown and distressed
neighborhoods.
It also received generous support from
the city’s business community, including
Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank
and Western & Southern Financial Group.
Each year since 3CDC was formed in
2003, corporations have contributed $1.2
million toward the nonprofit’s operating
budget, said Joe Rudemiller, communications
director for 3CDC.
That amount covered the entire operating
budget in 2003, when there were six to
10 employees, he said. Now, as 3CDC has
grown to 70 full-time staff members and 120
seasonal temporary workers, the amount
accounts for 15 percent of the operating
budget. While 3CDC receives no taxpayer
money for operating costs, it does receive
government grants and loans on a project-by-project
basis.
In addition, corporations contributed
$250 million for 3CDC to use as a revolving
low-interest loan fund for projects.
The results have been staggering, leading
to an investment of more than $1.3 billion
in Cincinnati’s Downtown and Overthe-Rhine
neighborhood. The first major
project was completed in 2006, just three
years after 3CDC began.
Rudemiller said the nonprofit’s work has
The exterior of the Elena Flats building during its renovation into its original four-unit complex.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 96
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 79