JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A major step forward was made Tuesday in the effort to restore a historic Downtown Jacksonville landmark.
The Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) approved the reallocation of $1 million to help restore Snyder Memorial Church, which sits at the corner of Laura and Monroe streets.
Recommended Videos
The funding was originally earmarked for a restaurant project at Riverfront Plaza, but is now being redirected to prepare the church for private development.
Built in 1903, Snyder Memorial has remained largely vacant for more than 20 years. The city still owns the building and occasionally uses it for special events, but the long-term goal is a full restoration followed by private redevelopment.
With the new funding secured, the DIA now has $4.5 million committed to the project. That money will go toward critical repairs and upgrades needed to make the structure safe and attractive to developers.
Eventually, the city hopes to begin the disposition process — turning the property over to a private developer through sale or lease. Possible uses for the building include office space, a restaurant, or an event venue.
By involving private developers, the city aims to avoid covering the full cost of renovations while still bringing the building back into use — and back on the tax roll.
“We want to do a disposition of it in the next three or four months,” said Lori Boyer, CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority. “Based on the estimates we’ve seen from both private developers and the ones we did when we toured, the construction cost is going to be $9 [million] to $10 million for renovation. So if we were providing an incentive, it would be less than 50%.
“The whole idea is that this would be an incentive coming from the tax increment district that would assist a private developer in completing the renovation, putting it back in service, [and] putting it back on the tax roll,” Boyer added.
The full cost of renovations is expected to exceed current funding levels, but city leaders say the latest investment is a meaningful step toward revitalizing one of Jacksonville’s oldest buildings.
Stay with News4JAX for updates as this project develops.
