Jacksonville's $49.65 Million Downtown Publix Incentive Stalls on a 3-3 Committee Tie as Amendment 3 Cuts Into City Revenue

A $49.65 million city incentive package meant to bring a full-service Publix to downtown Jacksonville stalled Wednesday when the City Council's Finance Committee split 3-3, one day after Florida voters approved a property tax cut that the council's own auditor says will take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the city budget.

The tie left the ordinance, 2026-0541, short of the committee recommendation it needed to move to a planned vote of the full council on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Under council rules, the decision on whether the full council votes anyway now rests with Council President Nick Howland, who has been the most prominent voice urging caution about the deal.

What the developer wants

Gateway Jax is proposing a $140 million, 14-story tower at 119 W. Beaver St., where it is demolishing the former First Baptist Church auditorium. The building would hold 259 apartments above a 37,000-square-foot Publix on the ground floor. The project, known as Block N7, is part of Pearl Square, a neighborhood of more than $1 billion that Gateway is building on the northwest side of downtown near City Hall. Completion is estimated for June 2030, according to News4JAX.

The incentive package has two parts:

Publix would lease the store space and receive no city money, News4JAX reported. The Downtown Investment Authority, which endorsed the package in December 2025, projects the city would get $1.10 back for every dollar it spends, reaching a one-to-one return in 28 years.

Gateway Jax CEO Bryan Moll has said the tower depends on the public money. "And the project would not be possible without the investment," he said at an Oct. 22 public meeting at City Hall, where he argued the request was "not just a request we're making for one block in Downtown but it's for the entire city."

How the committee split

The Finance Committee took the vote Wednesday without debate, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. Committee members Mike Gay, Will Lahnen and Rory Diamond opposed the incentives, Jacksonville Today reported, and member Chris Miller was absent.

Lahnen, who chairs the committee, has focused his objection on the cash grant rather than the tax rebate. "This increases our commitment two years from now to over $40 million of unbudgeted completion grants if it passes," he said, according to News4JAX. The Daily Record reported that committee members also noted that about $68.1 million in unbudgeted completion grants is already outstanding, citing the council auditor.

Diamond, speaking separately about the city's response to Amendment 3, has proposed cutting money sent to downtown developers and asked the council to trim the budget of every city office that has an open position by the cost of that position, News4JAX reported.

Amendment 3 changes the math

The vote came a day after Amendment 3 passed statewide with about 62% of the vote. The constitutional amendment raises the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes from about $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and lowers the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. Duval County voters backed it with 56.5%.

The Jacksonville City Council Auditor's Office estimates the amendment will reduce city revenue by about these amounts:

For homeowners, the change is significant. Duval County Property Appraiser Joyce Morgan estimated that the owner of a median $290,000 single-family home with a homestead exemption would save $1,632 in 2027 and $2,674 in 2028. Mayor Donna Deegan said there was "no reason for histrionics right now" and that the city would present a balanced budget, while acknowledging it will have to make tough decisions.

The timing matters for the Publix deal because the $28.25 million completion grant would come out of city reserves after construction, putting the payment in the years when the revenue loss is fully in effect.

Where Howland stands

Howland questioned the cash grant as early as June, before he became council president. In October he backed delaying a vote until the Amendment 3 result was known. "If we do this incentive deal right now, without knowing what our shortfall is going to be, to me, it's just irresponsible," he said then, according to News4JAX, adding that he represents taxpayers and that it was more prudent to wait.

Now the shortfall has a rough size. Howland told the Daily Record he would decide whether to place the ordinance on the full council agenda at his agenda-setting meeting the Thursday or Friday before a council meeting. Moll said he hopes Howland will allow the Nov. 10 vote.

The case for the deal

Supporters argue that downtown has gone years without a full-service grocery store and that a Publix would anchor further development. Council member Jimmy Peluso, who represents District 7, has been the deal's strongest backer. "We've seen a lot of renderings in the past, and a lot of things have never been built," he said in October, arguing that Gateway has real private money behind the project and that a Publix would "set up all the other retailers to want to come here." He said this week he believes the votes are there on the full council and that Publix may consider other locations if the council votes no.

At-large member Matt Carlucci has said he takes no position on Amendment 3 but wants the incentive approved regardless of its outcome. "I believe it's important that we pass this ordinance and we honor this incentive," he said, calling the downtown area "such a fertile tax base."

A deal that has been delayed before

The package has been in front of the council for months. The Finance Committee first deferred it in August, when Lahnen pushed to restructure the completion grant and said he hoped the DIA and Gateway could find a way to avoid a large cash payment. Moll said at the time he had "the utmost confidence" a deal would get done. Earlier descriptions of the project, reported by News4JAX in August, called for a 15-story tower with about 500 apartments and a 31,000-square-foot store; the version now before the council is smaller in unit count but has a larger store.

In early October, the Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee voted 5-2 to advance the bill. The Finance Committee then deferred it again days later, this time explicitly to wait for the Amendment 3 vote, which set up Wednesday's tie.

What's next

Howland's decision on the agenda is the next step. If he places the ordinance before the full council on Nov. 10, it needs a majority vote of the 19-member council to pass. If he holds it, the package stays in limbo while the city begins planning its first budget under Amendment 3, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, and starts reducing collections when the 2027-28 fiscal year begins in October 2027. Gateway's other Pearl Square construction is already under way, but the Publix tower itself depends on the city money, according to the developer.