{"id":496889,"date":"2026-01-06T16:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/496889\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T16:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:40:21","slug":"jacksonville-city-council-committees-approve-sale-of-springfield-armory-to-lessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/496889\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville City Council committees approve sale of Springfield Armory to lessee"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Guard Armory Building in Springfield is one step closer to being acquired by its lessee for a planned redevelopment.<\/p>\n

During Jan. 5 meetings, two Jacksonville City Council committees endorsed legislation to sell the 2.49-acre property in Springfield to Armory Redevelopment Associates LLC.<\/p>\n

The legislation, Ordinance 2025-0876, is next scheduled before the Finance Committee on Jan. 6. If that committee advances the ordinance without further revisions, the armory would sell for $3.04 million with approval by the full Council.<\/p>\n

Legislation to sell the property originally proposed a price of $2.55 million. After members of the Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee raised concerns that the price was too low, Armory Redevelopment Associates agreed to raise the purchase price by $496,537.10, the amount of a grant it previously received from the city.<\/p>\n

The Neighborhoods Committee voted 5-1 for the sale, with Council member Mike Gay voting no. The Rules Committee voted 7-0, with Gay switching his vote after the price change.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the city selected REVA Development Corp. of Fort Lauderdale to redevelop the Armory into a mixed-use facility with art galleries and studios, co-working spaces, a food hall, performance space and a microbrewery.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Armory building site on 2.02 acres at 851 N. Market St. between Springfield and Downtown.<\/p>\n

REVA has not said they have changed those plans.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Armory Redevelopment Associates, a subsidiary of REVA, began leasing the property at 851 N. Market St. in 2020.<\/p>\n

In the lease, the city also provided an optional parcel for sale adjacent to the Armory at 928 N. Liberty St. to the LLC for $846,000. REVA planned to develop 100 workforce apartments on the Liberty Street property. The proposed residential development did not materialize and is no longer part of Armory Redevelopment Associates\u2019 plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a 2022 city summary, the three-story Armory building needed asbestos, lead-based paint and mold abatement; HVAC, plumbing, electrical and telecommunications replacement; fire protection and sprinkler system installation; waterproofing; re-roofing; and framing and floor rehabilitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Made<\/p>\n

Made at the Armory is a transformation of the former National Guard Armory at Market and State streets near Downtown Jacksonville. The project has been in the works since at least 2019.<\/p>\n

BDG Architects<\/p>\n

In 2022, costs of stabilization were estimated at $15 million, a number repeated by Randolph before the Neighborhoods Committee. REVA listed the full cost of the Armory redevelopment at $30 million in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an October memo presented to the Mayor\u2019s Budget Review Committee, the city\u2019s Office of Economic Development said REVA has done roof repairs and other small improvements. The city issued a roofing permit for the building in 2024.<\/p>\n

The 80,826-square-foot Armory has endured flooding over the years, including when Hurricane Irma left 12 to 16 inches of standing water in the structure during 2017.<\/p>\n

REVA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose name is an acronym for Real Estate Ventures for the Arts, lists the total cost of the project at $30 million, including work to reduce flooding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Armory was vacant for 10 years before REVA\u2019s takeover of the space.<\/p>\n

Constructed in 1916, the Armory has served as property of both the city and the state of Florida since that time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to The Jaxson online magazine, the building served the military reserve force and was a destination for dances, cultural events, high school graduations and concerts. Armory\u2019s facilities included a kitchen, mess hall, band room, billiard room, rifle range, swimming pool and bowling alley.<\/p>\n

A full Council vote on Ordinance 2025-0876 is expected Jan. 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Guard Armory Building in Springfield is one step closer to being acquired by its lessee for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":496890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-496889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115849149359728235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496889","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=496889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}