{"id":363033,"date":"2025-11-07T21:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/363033\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T21:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:21:17","slug":"city-records-show-hard-rock-hotel-proposed-on-former-berkman-ii-condominium-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/363033\/","title":{"rendered":"City records show Hard Rock Hotel proposed on former Berkman II condominium site"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 City records show that developers of a potential Hard Rock Hotel on the Downtown Northbank presented the city with two versions of financial models for the project, one containing publicly funded incentives of nearly $70 million and the other with more than $40 million.<\/p>\n

The hotel and condominium is proposed on a 2.02-acre property at 500 E. Bay St., the site of the demolished Berkman II condominium along the St. Johns River. It is across the street from the Police Memorial Building and Duval County Jail.<\/p>\n

Representatives for the development, code-named Project Revival in the documents, sent the city the first model for it on Aug. 5 that included $69.26 million in tax breaks over 25 years. <\/p>\n

Two weeks later, the developers presented the second model containing a $40.13 million incentive for the project, which includes 350 hotel rooms and 150 condominiums. <\/p>\n

The construction cost was listed at $260.87 million in both models, with a land purchase price of $8.5 million in both.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry said the city had reviewed the models, but had not committed to offering any incentives. He said the Downtown Investment Authority was still in the fact-finding stage of analyzing the project. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too preliminary to suggest what an incentive package, if any, might look like,\u201d Perry wrote in an email.<\/p>\n

The city announced in July that it was talking with several developers interested in the property, including a group proposing a project that could potentially be a Hard Rock Hotel.<\/p>\n

The owner and developers<\/b><\/p>\n

The property is owned by Curtis D. Hodgson of Addison, Texas, who bought it July 18 for $7.3 million.<\/p>\n

Also July 18, Hodgson entered into an exclusive option agreement for the property with Florida Innovation Capital 500 E Bay Street Parent LLC of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

On its website, floridainnovationcapital.com<\/a>, Florida Innovation Capital describes itself as \u201ca private equity fund that empowers visionaries with the capital, network, and guidance needed to drive innovation in Florida and beyond.<\/p>\n

Hodgson said he was not involved in any development plans for the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just the money man,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m holding it until they get their ducks in a row.\u201d <\/p>\n

Project Revival records show that representatives from the DIA and Deegan\u2019s executive office have met with a development team headed by Michael Munz, the founder and CEO of Florida Innovation Capital, and that includes Jacksonville consultant Jim Gilmore, a partner in the group.<\/p>\n

Representatives for developers included those from two investment firms \u2013 FIC and Pan American Finance \u2013 as well as the Southern Group, a lobbying firm. <\/p>\n

City representatives included DIA CEO Colin Tarbert; Deegan\u2019s chief of staff, Mike Weinstein; and Steve Kelley, DIA director of Downtown real estate and development.<\/p>\n

Munz said Nov. 6 his group\u2019s project was at \u201cthe very, very beginning,\u201d and declined to confirm if it was a Hard Rock Hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to give any more detail than that is really impossible,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very early stages, is the best way to describe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June, the Daily Record was given a copy of an investor presentation by FIC for a riverfront development matching the details in the city records. In the presentation, the group said it had a signed letter of intent \u201cwith an iconic global hotel and entertainment brand in April 2025, confirming the Franchisor\u2019s commitment to partnering with FIC in Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that presentation, partners in FIC were identified as Munz; Gilmore; state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville; and Ed Miller, whose title was listed as senior managing partner of Pan American Finance; Nicholas Danton, FIC chief investment officer; Tim Stokes, FIC chief operating officer; and general partners Gwen Griggs and Whitney Harper.<\/p>\n

Duggan said Nov. 6 he is not an investor in the project but rather is serving as the group\u2019s legal counsel through the Rogers Towers law firm, in which he is an attorney and shareholder.<\/p>\n

Revenue, expenses and tax breaks<\/b><\/p>\n

The documents prepared by developers and reviewed by city officials included detailed models of the development\u2019s expected revenue and expenses, along with potential tax breaks.<\/p>\n

One page of a spreadsheet sent to the city Aug. 5 and titled \u201cTAX ESTIMATE\u2013Needs Update,\u201d included details for a 25-year, 75% Recapture Enhanced Value Grant totaling $69.26 million.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 19, the developers sent a new spreadsheet with the same title but including a 20-year, 75% REV grant totaling $40.13 million.<\/p>\n

A REV grant is a refund on ad valorem tax revenue generated by a new development or property enhancement. It can apply to property and tangible personal property.<\/p>\n

Besides the time span of the grants, differences in the two models included that the first was based on a 3% growth assumption in project\u2019s value, while the second was factored on a 2% growth assumption.<\/p>\n

At the higher growth rate, the property would generate more incremental tax revenue over the span of the grant. Incremental tax revenue is the increased amount of taxes a property improvement generates over the amount it would have produced if left unimproved. <\/p>\n

The first version of the spreadsheet listed incremental tax revenue at $114.13 million, the second at $53.51 million. <\/p>\n

Perry said the incentive figures came from the project\u2019s developers. City officials have reviewed them, he said, but had not extended any offers of tax incentives. <\/p>\n

In response to previous media inquiries, Perry said the Hard Rock Hotel project would not include a casino.<\/p>\n

The partially built Berkman II was demolished in March 2022, nearly 15 years after construction was halted after the parking garage for the building collapsed, killing one worker and injuring others.<\/p>\n

The lot remains empty. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 City records show that developers of a potential Hard Rock Hotel on the Downtown Northbank…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":363034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,7236,3188,723,7310,14639,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-363033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-downtown","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-st-johns-river","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115510515203756623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}