The Barnett National Bank Building is located in a severely distressed area and TIF district. The redevelopment of the Barnett Building into a mixed-use center for business development and affordable housing required over $25MM in NMTC allocation to underwrite the significant costs of the historic rehabilitation and to reduce the occupancy costs at least 20% below market rate for nonprofit tenants. The University of North Florida Entrepreneurial Center will create a new “hub” of technologies, business support services and educational programs in one location within the Central Business District of downtown Jacksonville with collaborative workspaces, labs, and support services. In addition to supporting the growth of 50 small businesses annually as part of the Small Business Development Center’s mission, the space will include new satellite classrooms and working labs for the University of North Florida’s Coggin College of Business. The YMCA will operate a fitness and wellness center offering programming for the broader community, including low-income residents and youth. The building will create 108 units of residential apartments, of which 20% will be affordable to persons with incomes at or below the area median income. The redevelopment will create 440 construction jobs (of which 30% will be accessible to low-income persons and 65% will pay a Davis-Bacon wage), the project tenants will create at least 95 permanent jobs, 30% of the subcontracting opportunities will be awarded to minority- and women-owned firms, and the building will be LEED certified.
Urban Action Community Development (UACD) provided $10MM in NMTC allocation for the Barnett National Bank Building (“Barnett Building”). The Barnett Building, located in the heart of the City of Jacksonville’s Central Business District, will be the adaptive reuse of one of Florida’s most historically significant landmark buildings, formally a commercial bank that has been vacant for over 20 years. As part of the City of Jacksonville’s Community Redevelopment Area Plan, the project will be the LEED certified redevelopment of the historic 18-story 156,744 SF commercial building that will provide subsidized space and support for early-stage and growing companies. The Barnett Building’s tenant mix will include the University of North Florida Entrepreneurial Center’s, which is a business incubator and entrepreneurial development center with a mission to “grow small businesses and create new workforce within the Northeast Florida marketplace”; YMCA; JPMorgan Chase’s flagship location for North Florida; a locally-owned coffee shop; and 108 units of residential apartments.
