An artist's rendering of the planned 37,000-square-foot Publix at 119 W. Beaver St., part of a new building that will also include a 15-story residential tower and 400 parking spaces. | Gateway/Pearl Square
Published on November 11, 2026 at 5:28 pm
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Plans to build a residential high-rise with a Publix grocery store in the Pearl Square neighborhood Downtown have been salvaged by a compromise incentives package that shifts funding sources and delays other Downtown projects.
The Jacksonville City Council approved the incentives for developer Gateway Jax in an 11-to-8 vote Tuesday, after Florida’s passage of the property tax cut known as Amendment 3 made city lawmakers question whether Jacksonville could afford a $28.25 million completion grant.
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The developer argued that the promise of bringing a full-service Publix grocery store and pharmacy to the Downtown core has attracted other new housing developments and thousands of new residents over the past decade.
After the legislation to approve the agreement deadlocked in a 3-3 vote in the Council Finance Committee last week, the Downtown Investment Authority and Gateway came back to the negotiating table. To make the cash grant more palatable for council members, the new package pulls less of the cash grant from the city’s general fund.
Downtown Investment Authority’s CEO Colin Tarbert told council on Tuesday that both sides made concessions because attracting the grocery store is both parties’ top priority for Downtown.
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“That’s why you see us shifting things around to make this a priority,” he said. “Without the full service grocery store it’s going to be very difficult to keep residents Downtown — it’s going to be hard to attract the additional density that we need.”
The updated deal, introduced by council member Randy White, pulls money from two previously approved Downtown projects, delaying them in favor of securing the grocery store.
According to the legislation, $4 million will now come from the Shipyard West Park project; $4 million from a proposed Riverfront Plaza restaurant; and $7 million from a completion grant previously approved for another of Gateway’s planned Pearl Square residential high-rises.
According to Tarbert, the DIA board will contribute $4 million from the property tax dollars mangages. and the final $9 million will come from the city’s general fund. The grant will be due to be paid out 36 months from the start of construction.
The other piece of the incentive is a maximum $28.25 million property tax refund over 17 years, known as a REV grant. That incentive was never questioned by council members.
No taxpayer money will go to Publix. Instead, it will be awarded to Gateway subsidiary 119 Beaver St. W. LLC, which will build the $147.95 million project.
Publix will lease a roughly 31,000-square-foot space on the 15-story tower’s bottom floor. A term sheet from the DIA shows the residential tower will have about 260 apartments, and an attached parking garage will serve the store and residents.
The 11 “yes” votes on Tuesday came from council members Michael Boylan, Kevin Carrico, White, Ken Amaro, Matt Carlucci, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Ju’Coby Pittman, Reggie Gaffney Jr., Rahman Johnson, Jimmy Peluso and and Moné Holder.
“We’ve heard time and time again from independent restaurateurs and others the importance of this project,” Boylan said. “We’ve seen in 10 years a doubling of our Downtown residents nearing 10,000. Projects like this are important to continuing that growth.”
Voting no were council President Nick Howland, Vice President Joe Carlucci, Finance Chair Will Lahnen, and members Rory Diamond, Raul Arias, Mike Gay, Chris Miller and Ron Salem.
Lahnen, though he voted against the bill, called the last-minute compromise “less damaging” than the way the cash completion grant was structured in the original bill.
Mayor Donna Deegan, who is expected to sign the bill, was an early supporter of Gateway’s effort to secure Publix as a tenant and was on hand to celebrate the groundbreaking of its $1.1 billion Pearl Square development in 2023.
After the vote, she praised the council members “who put Jacksonville first and voted to keep our momentum going.”
“I also thank the DIA and Gateway Jax for maximizing the return on investment for taxpayers,” Deegan said in a written statement, in which she called Pearl Square “a truly transformational project, one that will deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial tax revenue that can be invested in neighborhoods across the city.”
How the new deal came together
Gateway Jax CEO Bryan Moll tells Jacksonville Today that changes to the deal happened quickly last week after Amendment 3’s passage. Moll said he’s warned Gateway’s investors that they’ll need to put more equity stake into the other high-rise that a $7 million completion grant is being diverted from.
“I do think it (the grocery store) will have a positive impact on our ability to move things forward on (the apartment high-rise),” Moll said.
More cash for Gateway?
On the same night the developer’s latest ask for city cash crawled over the finish line, legislation was filed with proposed incentives for the next Gateway project: a $250 million luxury hotel, condo and apartment high-rise at Riverfront Plaza.
In addition to a nearly $35.4 million property tax refund over 20 years, the developer is asking for another completion grant for that project. Moll points out that $20 million in cash would come from property tax revenue generated Downtown and controlled by the DIA, not out of the city’s general fund.
The tower’s design has been pitched as integral to the success of the nearly $80 million city park at Riverfront Plaza, with its two full-service public restaurants and terrace integrated into the park’s design.
But it would still need City Council approval. And with cuts coming next year to adjust city spending for Amendment 3, Gateway will will once again have to convince city officials that taxpayer investment would be worth the cost.
The Amendment 3 homestead property tax cut will mean a $300 million per year loss to the general fund by fiscal year 2028-29.
According to data provided to Jacksonville Today by the City Council auditor, the Gateway deal will bring the city’s unbudgeted and outstanding completion grants to nearly $96.6 million.
“There’s an introduction of yet another one of these developer grants. Another one,” council member Rory Diamond said after his “no” vote Tuesday. “And I guarantee you, after you all just completely ignored the voters, and allowed taxpayer money to be shoveled to another Downtown developer, and Mayor Deegan asking us to do this, completely tone deaf … at some point you are going to have to say no because we do not have the money.
“You cannot say you care about police and fire and vote for this,” he said.
