Atlanta-based Columbia Ventures plans to transform the property into a residential and commercial space

Atlanta-based developer Columbia Ventures LLC says it has secured $72 million for its planned mixed-use rehab of the historic Union Terminal Warehouse. 

The company wants to build-out 228 workforce apartments and nearly 44,000 square feet of commercial, retail and light industrial or “makers spaces” inside the 109-year-old building at 700 E. Union St.

Columbia Ventures Development Manager Ryan Akin posted on LinkedIn that the company closed Aug. 18 on the financing.

Duval County Clerk of Courts records show that Bank United of Miami Lakes issued a $41.35 million mortgage Aug. 12 to the Columbia Ventures subsidiary that owns the warehouse near Jacksonville’s Downtown and Eastside for its plan to transform the building into a mixed-use apartment and light industrial space.

The mortgage, recorded Aug. 19 with the clerk of courts, says the financing was effective Aug. 16.

 The bank made the loan to East Union Property Owner.

The remainder of the financing will come from city loans and state and federal tax credit equity. 

City Council authorized $8.29 million in forgivable and deferred principal loans in May for the project through the Downtown Investment Authority’s Downtown Preservation and Revitalization Program.

Atlanta-based Columbia Ventures LLC is a step closer to breaking ground on its proposed five-story, 341-unit mixed-use apartment community at Park and Forest streets in Brooklyn. 

The Downtown Development Review Board voted 7-0 on July 14 to grant final design approval for the residential and retail project at Forest and Park streets that Columbia Ventures co-founder and Managing Partner Dillon Baynes said in an email May 9 will be a $100 million investment. 

He said the company “loves the Florida Story, the Sunbelt Story and the Jacksonville Story,” Baynes said in the email. 

“We are all in,” he said. “We have an office in Savannah two hours away and have been in the market for almost four years. We hope to find other great opportunities in time.”

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Source: Jax Daily Record

After being acquired by Columbia Ventures in December 2018, with plans to utilize historic tax credits and opportunity zone equity as key components of the capital stack, the restoration of the Eastside’s 109-year-old Union Terminal Warehouse is now moving forward.

Covering 330,000 square feet of space, the Union Terminal Warehouse Company was said to be the largest warehouse in Florida when it was completed in 1913 by the Turner Construction Company. Now Columbia Ventures is poised to renovate the Eastside landmark at 700 East Union Street into a mixed-use development featuring 220 workforce and market-rate apartments and 38,000 square feet of commercial, retail and dining space. In addition, the project will include an 80 space indoor parking area and a rooftop amenitized with a rooftop terrace.

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Source: The Jaxson

The Jacksonville City Council authorized $8.29 million in public financing for an Atlanta-based developer’s plan to renovate and adapt the historic Union Terminal Warehouse into mixed-income housing and retail.

Columbia Ventures told city officials they expect to take two years to finish work on the 109-year-old building at 700 E. Union St. near the Springfield, Downtown and Eastside neighborhoods.

Plans for the $57.1 million project include a minimum of 220 workforce and market-rate apartments and 38,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. 

The company pitched some of the retail spaces to the Downtown Investment Authority in May 2021 as studios and “maker’s spaces” to attract artists.

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Source: Jax Daily Record