‘It’s obnoxious:’ Council members fed up with Laura St. Trio delays, call on city to drop lawsuit

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Some City Council members urged the City of Jacksonville to drop a $800,000 lawsuit against the developers behind the historic Laura Street Trio downtown.

Members discussed the delayed development of the downtown buildings during Monday’s Special Committee on the Future of Downtown.

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Action News Jax told you last month the lawsuit was filed against the developers for more than $800,000 in fines that have been racked up over the years on neglected upkeep.

On Monday, a city representative said negotiations were in the works to come to a deal and move past the lawsuit. That’s after developers said they would drop the plan in a “heartbeat” if the lawsuit stayed. If everything goes as planned, the developers said they could have a new term sheet within the next four weeks.

RELATED: ‘I hope something can happen:’ Future of Laura Street Trio to be discussed Monday

“It’s our Picasso — let’s do whatever we can to save it so future generations can share one of the greatest architectural treasures in Jacksonville’s history,” Wayne Wood, a local historian, said.

The three buildings included what was once Florida’s first skyscraper. But the buildings have since sat empty for two decades and the current developers have brought forth four failed deals to the city.

“We’ve been talking about this one project for a decade. It’s obnoxious,” Council member Jimmy Peluso said.

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Council member Rory Diamond said the delays highlight concerns with the agency in charge of overseeing downtown development, the Downtown Investment Authority.

“The bureaucratic function of DIA has failed on this deal,” he said Monday. Diamond added that the process for development needs to be streamlined.

A representative from the Downtown Development Review Board spoke at the meeting. Typically, DDRB works on deals first and approves them for the DIA, which then reviews plans before the council needs to approve funding if necessary.

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“The right types of projects are going to make downtown more vibrant. Increase rents. When rents go up, incentives can go down,” Alex Sifakis, the president of the DDRB, said. “If we want to streamline projects, we need to get more legal resources to DIA so we can get development agreements done in a month — not 7 or 8 months.”

Sifakis brought up the recently approved Pearl Street District, which is set to break ground this fall. He said it took two years for the deal to go through, compared to four years for a similar project in Tampa.

The purpose of the special committee is to determine the efficacy of the DIA concerning downtown and if any changes need to be made.

RELATED STORIES:

• Laura Street Trio in jeopardy again, DIA to recommend Jacksonville end negotiations with developer
• Developers giving new insights into plans to revitalize Laura Street Trio
• ‘It’d be awesome:’ The $87M proposal to bring Jacksonville’s Laura Street Trio back to life
• Laura Street Trio proposal still a possibility after amended DIA resolution passes
• Laura Street Trio owner plans to move forward despite DIA resolution finding project ‘untenable’
• Laura Street Trio development faces setback; Jacksonville mayor says restoration is ‘priority one’

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