Daily’s and Bold City Brewery delayed in LaVilla

City officials are giving First Coast Energy LLP three more years to complete a mixed-use Daily’s fuel station in LaVilla that’s supposed to be the new Downtown home of Bold City Brewery.

The Jacksonville City Council voted 18-0 on Tuesday to grant Daily’s parent company the extension to Aug. 24, 2028, two years after the Downtown Development Review Board granted final design approval for the project planned for unused property on Forsyth and Bay Street.

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A lobbyist representing First Coast Energy declined to comment Wednesday when Jacksonville Today asked what the delay will mean for Bold City’s operation Downtown.

Council also gave unanimous approval Wednesday for a physician training agreement between University of Florida and the city; a tax rebate for a smokeless product manufacturer expanding in Jacksonville; and a new director of planning and development.

Daily’s setback in LaVilla

Leadership at Daily’s has cited economic conditions like inflation and supply chain disruptions that “created unforeseen delays in implementing viable commercial projects downtown, including the Daily’s Mixed-Use project,” according to a legislative summary filed with Ordinance 2025-0470.

First Coast Energy paid $3.3 million in August 2020 for the four parcels bounded by
West Forsyth, West Bay and North Broad streets in LaVilla where it plans to build a two-story Daily’s with 16 pumps, a 5,000-square-foot restaurant and a Bold City microbrewery with a rooftop bar.

People with ties to the historic black neighborhood of LaVilla reacted with pushback and concern when the project was proposed in 2023. Downtown redevelopment advocates also voiced opposition to putting a suburban-style fuel station at a key intersection in an area where the neighborhood strategic plan calls for more walkability and pedestrian safety.

According to the legislative summary, First Coast Energy says Daily’s has worked to refine the architectural elements of its plans. The extension will provide Daily’s additional time to:

Facilitate final professional design and engineering work.
Procure and source the necessary and appropriate materials.
Finalize construction plans for the design variations that accompanied the final order.
Finalize business partner components that will serve the establishments within the project.
Complete the project in accordance with the final order.

JFRD doctor ride-a-longs

The council voted 18-0 in favor of a memorandum of understanding between the UF board of trustees and the city. The agreement will allow physicians, residents and fellows at the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville to participate in ride-a-longs with Jacksonville Fire and Rescue units to “further their education and satisfy clinical education requirements.”

The long-term agreement in Ordinance 2025-462 would be in effect until June 30, 2034.

Project Newark

An unidentified manufacturer code-named Project Newark has been awarded a $3.5 million property tax rebate over five years for its $135 million expansion plan in Jacksonville for new smokeless nicotine and smokeless caffeine pouch product lines.

Resolution 2025-0531, approved Tuesday in an 18-0 vote, allows the city’s economic development staff to execute an agreement with Newark that requires the company to create 200 new jobs with an average salary of $70,000 plus benefits by Dec. 31, 2028.

The tax incentive, known as a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant, rebates the increase in property tax revenue from the currently unidentified property where Newark will build its Jacksonville facility.

New planning director

Council also gave an 18-0 approval to Mayor Donna Deegan’s appointment of 27-year city employee Helena Atalla Parola to lead the city’s Planning and Development Department.

The Deegan administration announced Parola’s appointment in June to fill the role that had been vacant since April after former Director R. Brett James submitted his resignation.

Parola began her career with the city in 1998 as a city planner supervisor before spending the last year as acting chief of the Community Planning Division, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Permitting, land use, zoning and building codes and inspections, among other services, all fall under the Planning and Development Department’s umbrella. The Deegan administration has been working to streamline the city’s permitting process for more than a year.