Let's go ahead and start. There's a TDC meeting going on this morning, and so there's some council members in that, maybe two or three, and then there's a waterways commission, and there's maybe one or two in there, and then everybody else, I don't know where they're at, but everybody was invited. But what I'd like to do is just introduce everybody who's up here, and we'll just start with Ms. Tremor. I want to thank Council Member Peluso for, he's the co-whatever you would, he's jointly doing this notice meeting with me is basically what I'm trying to say, and I appreciate him, so thanks. So? Brian Wall, CEO of Gateway Jacks, 100 North Laura Street, downtown. My name is Matt Carlucci. I'm a city councilman at large, group four. Jimmy Peluso, District 7. Okay, thank you. And I see we have a lot of members from the DIA out in the audience. Why don't you all hold up your hands? Okay. Wade in the back. And we've got members of the administration are here. Wade, raise y'all's hands. And then we have some council aides here. Raise your hands. I know you're out there. Okay. And we have our council, office of general counsel is represented here and our council auditors, who I always like to be here. Council auditors and OGC. You can't live with them, and you can't live without them sometimes. But I always lean hard on them, and I always wind up bending to their will, because they're most always 100% right. So I have some remarks, and I'm going to read my remarks, because I want to make sure I say everything exactly the way I want to say them. And although we don't have my colleagues here, hopefully they'll get the gist of the meeting somehow. I will probably send out my remarks to them, even if they care to read them. But my remarks this morning, the purpose of this meeting will be explained as I go through my remarks. I might take a little more than the average given time, but since I happen to have called this meeting, I think I can get away with that. Are you okay with that, Councilman Peluso? Run with it. Okay. And then I'll turn it over to you, and then we'll turn it over for the intended purposes, as will be explained in my remarks. But this meeting is about the N7 Publix and Pearl Square development here in Jacksonville. And so before I get into the N7 Publix and Pearl Square remarks, I'd like to share a few things that are on my heart this morning, perhaps on my mind as well. First, I want to apologize to the chairman of Neighborhoods Committee, Chris Miller, God blessing, for my trying his patience the other day, which might have been somewhat on purpose, but that was not making it right. Hello, John Nooney. But I tried his patience the other day, and I know I pushed the limits of my time at the end of the Neighborhoods meeting, for those of you who might have been in attendance. I recognize the responsibility that he has to keep the meeting moving, and I respect him. And I respect the position he holds. And most of all, I respect the rules that we operate under. So I wanted to get that said and say that sincerely and take full responsibility for it. And I do respect my colleague and his gavel. But I also hope folks, including my colleagues, may understand that after so many years on this council, and having seen so much of Jacksonville's history unfold, sometimes it's difficult not to share everything I'd like to share in three minutes allotted. That's one reason I called this meeting today. There's so much to be said about how this project fits into Jacksonville's history, and where I believe it will take our city in the future. So with that said, I want to thank you all for being here. I want to thank the media for being here, wherever they may be. Do they leave? Are they here? Okay. Thank you for being here. And for my council colleague, who is the district councilman, for participating. I called the meeting because, as an at-large member, I also represent District 7, and I believe what is happening with the Pearl Square represents one of the most important opportunities for downtown Jacksonville. Perhaps one of the most important I've seen in my lifetime. To some here, I may be preaching to the choir. I get that. But to others, this narrative may answer some questions, and particularly a lot of my constituents who ask me questions about, why is this project so important? Why does it need incentives? And so forth. N7, and Publix in particular, is an important part of Pearl Square. It would bring 258 apartments in a full-time service Publix grocery store with a pharmacy to downtown. It is also a part of a billion-dollar-plus investment that will transform nine downtown blocks and help attract even more private development than just this group. What should not be lost on us in Jacksonville is how very fortunate we are to have a development group willing to invest more than a billion dollars in the heart of our central business district. I can't tell you how many prior mayors would have loved to have had that type of investment happening in our downtown. Investments of this scale will be transformational. No doubt that we all love our neighborhoods, right? We love our neighborhoods where we live. But as much as those neighborhoods mean to us, cities are known by their downtowns, right? Nodding of heads, yeah. Downtowns are known, cities are known by their downtowns, and downtown is Jacksonville's own signature. You know, I think about that every time I travel out of town. Every time I travel out of town and I come home, and then as I drive from the airport and cross the Fuller Warren Bridge, going back to my beloved neighborhood, San Marco, I look out at the skyline of my hometown immediately, and with our beautiful St. John's River flowing through the heart of our downtown, and I think, you know, we may not have the biggest skyline, but there are very few places that can match the beauty of ours, no doubt. I take great pride in that view. It welcomes me home every time. It reminds me of what a special place and a special home Jacksonville is, what a special downtown we already have, and how that downtown is transforming for the greater before our eyes. And I got to tell you, frankly, I have never seen such an exciting time like this in my life in our downtown, never. I have great faith in the future, and I believe investments like Pearl Square are making that future a reality. And I have to tell you, there are more to come. There are going to be more to come that are going to be so exciting. It's a great time to be a city council member. It's a great time to be a citizen of Jacksonville. We should be celebrating. In addition, and importantly, there's an observation I would like to make. And this is important for us to think about, because as I go through social media, in the neighborhood social media where I live, this is something I'd like to say. I think downtown's resurgence has snuck up on a lot of our own citizens, because for years, they have heard about downtown struggles, vacant buildings, the challenges of attracting investment. But something important is happening downtown, and we need to help our citizens see it and understand what it means to Jacksonville's future. They're not just all negative people. It's just stuck up on them, I think, to a large degree. More people now want to live downtown. They want to walk to restaurants, enjoy the riverfront, and be a part of an active urban neighborhood. But a neighborhood needs more than apartments. It needs everyday services. That's why the public's is so important. A grocery store and a pharmacy make downtown living more practical and attractive. They help turn a collection of buildings into a real neighborhood, support nearby businesses, and create the foundation for further growth. There's also an important financial benefit. Downtown offers an extraordinary opportunity to create a new taxable value block by block. That growth strengthens our tax base and creates additional revenue that can benefit our entire city. I often like to say nowhere can contribute to our tax base block by block more than a vibrant downtown. So why are incentives needed if this is such a promising investment? Why do you need incentives, Matt? I get asked that all the time. When I drive out of downtown Jacksonville and I get into the comfortable suburbs of Jacksonville, why do you all need incentives? It's such a great place. Why do you need it? Well, developing downtown is complicated. Demolition, aging, utilities. If you could take an x-ray machine and you could x-ray underneath the ground of downtown, you would find a maze of pipes, of wires, of enough stuff underneath there that if it was cotton, you could knit a sweater 100 times over. However, demolition, aging utilities, infrastructure improvements, and the challenges of working around existing buildings can make redevelopment considerably more expensive than building on just an undeveloped piece of land. Those costs create a financing gap, even where the demand for the finished project is there. And this is where I believe the public purpose comes in. That sometimes is hard to understand as a regular citizen who's productive, taking their kids to school, to the Little League, going to work, paying their taxes, but they're not really paying attention to downtown like we are down here. And we have to understand that. Public dollars are being requested not to simply help build one particular project, but to establish the energy, the activity, and the vibrancy of our downtown. We need people living downtown, businesses opening, and investing, and investment coming back into the heart of our city. When we do that successfully, we create new, valuable properties that add to our tax base and generate revenue to help services throughout Jacksonville and not just downtown. And those services, along with a stronger tax base, help improve quality of life for people throughout our entire city, all 870-some-odd square miles. The benefits of a stronger downtown don't stop at the downtown boundary. They extend, as I said, to the entire city. And that's why I believe responsible downtown development is important to all our citizens throughout Jacksonville. And you know what? It's up to us to understand that we need to explain that to our citizens. We can't just assume they know. We can't get kind of, why don't they understand that? Well, maybe just because we haven't explained it well enough. Of course, we have a responsibility to make sure incentives are justified. A lot of people think we're just throwing out the money. You don't believe it? Just go on the social media if you're choosing. The private investment is substantial, but the public benefits warrant the cost. We must scrutinize the numbers to protect our taxpayers. And when we explain the purposes and we're accountable for those, then you know what we're doing? We're helping bring the public along with us. We can't make people feel like we're just ignoring them and leaving them behind and taking care of our own little pet projects. No. We've got to bring people along with us because Jacksonville moves best when we move together. And I know our mayor, every time she goes to a town meeting, she explains this. But the mayor can only do so much. And she has town meeting after town meeting after town meeting. And I hear her explain these to the meetings that I go to. Sometimes when you go to a town meeting, you think you're talking to the world. Sometimes I feel like, you know, going out into the middle of James Weldon Johnson Park with a megaphone. Maybe I'll borrow Angie Nixon's megaphone and say, Dear Jacksonville, what we're doing down here is really good. Let me explain. But you know what? Think about it. The people at the town center, the people way out in Mandarin, the people on the west side, the people at the beaches, do they really? Is this message penetrating? And that's why I hoped that the media would be here. I understood it if our council members didn't show up. Although I have to say, in all due respect to my council members, I'm not sure some of the council members really understand this that well. And I say that as a council member who, in my first term, everybody didn't understand it that well. It took Preston Haskell, Jack Diamond, and some others to get it through my thick skull. And then I began to understand it. But we must scrutinize the numbers and protect our taxpayers. But one thing I also learned years and years and years ago in my first term, we must look to the long-term return for Jacksonville as a whole, not just the cost of what the incentive is today. And when it comes to a budget, we must look just beyond ourselves. We must look beyond our property tax bill. Because every dollar in a budget, there's a person that is affected. And that's why I wrote that editorial years or months ago, probably one year ago too, but months ago before we took it up, saying behind every dollar in a budget, there's somebody on the receiving end of that. Maybe a senior citizen receiving a meals on wheel. Maybe a veteran receiving a service or perhaps some recognition at a Veterans Day parade. The budget goes for so many things, and it's so important. I'm almost through, but bear me out. I don't get a chance to talk like this much. I'd have done been cut off and gaveled over the head five times, five, six, seven minutes ago. I'll let David Baroline have my remarks, but you won't get the off-the-cuff from his old buddy. But here's the gist of it. Whether Amendment 3 passes or not, I don't care. If it passes, we'll deal with it. You know, we'll just have to deal with it. But whether it passes or not, it ain't effective until next year. We'll deal with it then. But I believe it's imperative that we pass this legislation before us in November. It is that important. And I will tell you, if we let this opportunity, this legislation, and this opportunity slip by, and we fail to pass this legislation, I believe it will become one of our greatest regrets. It will be an opportunity that we must not let slip past us. I believe Pearl Square and N7 and the Publix will make a real difference for downtown, but not just for downtown, but for all the reasons I stated prior, for our entire city. This is an opportunity to build on the progress that's already underway. If we don't pass this, I'm not sure what kind of credibility we're going to continue to hold with this development team, and certainly with development teams to come. This will be an opportunity to attract more residents, more businesses, and make our downtown the signature that Jacksonville deserves. So let's ask the hard questions, understand the financial commitments, and give this opportunity the serious consideration that it warrants. We still can vote yes or no, okay? But with that, I have invited the development team. I've let them sit up here just so they can look everybody in the eye and give us the justification for the requested incentives. I look forward to hearing their presentation. I want the council auditors to have your ears and your eyes open so that if there's any questions that you may have that you might want to pass along to me, I want to hear them, and I'll ask them, and they know I will do that. I did that the other day. I look forward to hearing their presentation, the explanation from city staff that they may have from our Office of General Counsel, and the questions from any of my council colleagues, which may be here or may get here. And I want to hear from my brother, from a different mother. He is Italian, Council Member Peluso. I know I've taken up a lot of time, and I apologize, but I hope and I believe maybe those are words that were worth hearing. And if you think they were, I'm happy. And if they weren't, it sure made me feel good saying them. I appreciate it, and thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you for hosting the meeting. Thank you for the kind words. I'm going to – many of your sentiments I think I could echo. I won't, because I do have waterways at 11, and I do want to make sure that our – Waterways, Mark. I try to make our meetings. All that to say, as the district council member for the downtown area, which means a lot to me, by the way, for those of you who don't know, I mean, I moved back home to Jacksonville in 2015 because I lived in so many different cities. And I lived in San Diego, I lived in Washington, D.C., I lived in Philadelphia, and I lived in Norfolk, Virginia. And I saw what these other places look like and how they utilize their natural environment. Obviously, San Diego is right there on the waterfront as well. They're downtown. It's kind of the same size as ours. I looked around, and I thought San Diego could be Jacksonville. The biggest difference is climate, right? There's no humidity out there. That's really about it, though. Like, I just never understood why we couldn't get our act together in the same way that some of these other places did. And then living in these other cities like Philly and D.C., you saw how difficult it is to get some things done. Later on, D.C. really got their act together. It took a long time, though. But in Philly, just everything is – the infrastructure is aging. I think his grandchild is outside. I think that's why Matt's going. I didn't bore him, I hope. But the point is to come back home to Jacksonville and to want to be a part of sort of this movement to bring young people back to the city, to have people who have seen how it is in other places and how we can invest, you know, similar resources into our downtown, it meant a lot to me. So when I became the council member that included downtown, it meant more to me than I think I expected even then. And while I campaigned, many of my constituents, and I think many people throughout the city, said, why is our downtown like this? Why can't it be different? We need to invest. If we want to make sure that my kid wants to move back here, if we want to make sure that my brother, my son, my niece, my grandchild moves back here, we need to make sure we have a downtown that attracts that kind of talent, on top of the fact that we need businesses, more Fortune 500 businesses, more of those emerging industries to want to locate and relocate somewhere, and I think a downtown is a great way to do it. That's what we've literally seen in our, frankly, competitor cities, competitor cities in the southeast being kind of Tampa, Orlando, St. Pete, Charlotte, to a degree Atlanta, and even like Savannah and Charleston, and maybe even Huntsville, Alabama, frankly. Like some of these other places are investing heavily in their downtowns and making sure that they become an attractive place for businesses to go to. And when businesses go to them, young talent stays there. When that young talent stays there, they raise their families. It is about building a new tax base. It is about this next generation of Jacksonville resident. How you doing, buddy? Hi. You poor kid. I'm sorry. Sorry your grandfather brought you up here to talk about downtown development. But the point is, is the numbers need to make sense. We have a downtown investment authority that looks at these things for a reason. We have sophisticated developers that I believe are doing the right work and showing us what the ROI is. The return on investment is pretty dramatic for the city of Jacksonville and for the taxpayer. And so we're not making wayward decisions. That was adorable. We're not making wayward decisions. We're investing in the future of our city. And if you allow for these opportunities to slip by, they go somewhere else. Right? If you compete with other major municipalities, you've got to properly compete. Otherwise, we shouldn't be a city. We should just be the suburb of Jacksonville. And we're not that. We are the city of Jacksonville. And we need to double down on that, especially with the amount of investment we just put into a lot of our public amenities in our downtown area, including James Weldon Johnson. We're about to build a brand-new marquee park right outside of the city hall. And we have these marquee parks right on the riverfront, as well as a beautiful riverfront. And if you haven't walked the bridges, like, there's kind of nothing better. And, again, as somebody who's lived in other cities, there's a reason I came back home. It's because there's something special about Jacksonville. And we need to invest in that. Timing is everything in development. We have an opportunity before us, and we can't allow it to slip through our fingers because that means that other projects and tertiary effects don't get done. And then we have more and more people saying, you know, how do we miss another opportunity? How come Jacksonville's not growing the way it should? We can't allow ourselves to be this one step forward, two steps back, like many people say about Jacksonville. But I do want to pass it over to the people we all want to hear from to explain why this is a great project. But, Chair, I don't know if you want to do something next instead. While we have the media here real quick, I'd like to ask if there's anybody from the media that has any questions before I let the development team roll into their presentation. If you have any questions real quick or if you want to wait until after they get through, then you can ask them questions now. But one of the things I'm wanting to do is get the information out. So don't see anybody with any. Okay. Ms. Tremmer and Mr. Moll, we'll turn it over to you. And thank you for being here and for being ready in the way that you've worked with our community and our council on this. It's all yours. Thank you. Well, thank you, Councilman. We really appreciate it and everyone for being here. So I am a proud resident of Mandarin and one of the people that is really passionate about what's happening downtown. But I realized over the last several months and the coverage and the questions that have come up that there really is a disconnect. And I think that part of that is I get to live and breathe this every day and live in the minutia and am privy to all of these details about the big picture and what's coming. And I think when we're in these individual hearings, we don't really get an opportunity to tell that story and give everybody else the opportunity to really see what we know is in the works. So I want to kind of back up and talk about the fact that we started this journey back in 2023 when the first phase of Pearl Square came through DIA. And that first phase had a handful of blocks, four of them, that all had mixed-use components. But being able to get to where we are today, where we have been able, with the investment the city has made, to recruit a grocer to look at downtown Jacksonville, that is something that when I started this job a decade ago was unthinkable. But that investment really did get the attention of the development community, the hospitality community, retail, restaurants. So this particular block really is the center of what we're trying to create in Pearl Square. And N7, we all have these nomenclature, but the block that we're talking about today is N7, came before DIA in December of 25 and went through the full underwriting process, determined that there was the appropriate return on investment to the city, and I know we're going to talk about that, and I hope we do, because that's really key to this project. Went through working with the city on the contract and got introduced in June of 26. So this project's been pending in the public forum since June. And when that was filed, we got a lot of questions from different council members, understanding the pressures the city's facing and wanting to look at how do we incentivize things and are there alternatives that aren't completion grants. So we pushed pause on phase two and worked for the last several months with the council members, with the administration, with DIA, to really dig in to the phase two projects and see what's on the table. Globally, how can we address them? Were there ways to do things that maybe weren't completion grants? And we've been able to do a lot with what we still have in terms of looking at alternate funding for the Ambassador Hotel, for example, which was originally proposed as completion grants and went back through underwriting and back through DIA and is now proposed as a loan that will fully pay back the city with interest over time. But when we looked at this specific block, it really didn't work to underwrite a different way. And we went through more than 12 different permutations to try to look at options. But what is before the city today, after all of that exercise over several months, was determined to really get the most bang for the buck on the investment and make sense for the city. But again, I live in the minutiae and we don't get to tell the story. So I want to pause there and give Brian the opportunity to really speak big picture because you have to look at this block in context and what it unlocks. Thank you, Cindy. And thank you to both of the council members for having us here today. We really appreciate it. You hear a lot of nomenclature when we're talking about our blocks in 8 and 4 and 11, and they all are going to have names at some point, I promise. But N7 is just one block of many in Pearl Square and then also within Gateway Jax's larger portfolio and within a very large downtown, four square miles, I believe, something like that. And what we are doing in Pearl Square not only impacts that immediate area, the project itself in that immediate area, it impacts all of downtown and it impacts the city. It impacts the adjoining neighborhoods, Springfield being the immediate one just to the north, out east, and then, of course, all of the neighborhoods that are within downtown, including Lovilla, Cathedral Heights, and others. So this is not just a request that we're making for one block. It's really for downtown and the entire city. And I would like to start really quickly just by giving some high-level information on what Pearl Square is. It is nine city blocks. It is over a billion dollars worth of investment. Within that billion dollars, there have been requests and granted requests from the city as participating in a few of them, not all of them, but in a few of them, about 7% of the total development costs. And this project would not be possible without that investment. And it may not seem like a lot when you're talking about a billion dollars and it's 7%, but that 7% is incredibly meaningful. It moves the needle. First of all, it shows investors. It shows banks. It shows the people that actually finance these projects to make them happen. It shows them that there is confidence from the city. It shows that the city is backstopping, or not backstopping, but providing the ability for the development to happen. But I do want to make one point very clear, because I think this does get lost once in a while. We have not received a dime of any of that city investment, and we won't until we actually start building and completing buildings. The first one, which will be done here in about three weeks, as I was telling the council member, Vanderveer, formerly N11. So there's your name. But that's very important, because when we first approached the city with this big idea in the DIA a number of years ago, it was important to us to make sure that we could be trusted and that the city was able to trust us, not just on one project, but over time. And so we are putting our money where our mouth is, and then the city, when they have a completed project that is on the tax rolls, that is generating revenue back to the city, provides these incentives. So what is Pearl Square? Pearl Square, very simply at a high level, it's nine blocks. It is 2 million square feet of density. What does that mean? It means over 1,250 new residential units. It likely will grow to about 1,500, and that means something like 2,500 to 3,000 new residents that are going to be living two blocks away from City Hall. It will entirely change the dynamic of this area of downtown, and that's just on nine blocks of the 26 city blocks that Gateway Jacks has, not to mention the other blocks that Gateway Jacks does not control that could develop into additional residential. Literally, the opportunity in downtown for people living, walking, working, and shopping is off the charts. There is 200,000 square feet of retail that is either built under construction or planned. 200,000 square feet of retail might seem amorphous, but what that means is 35,000 square feet of that is the public. So that means that the public is a small, relatively, portion of the amount of retail that we're delivering. It means 20 new restaurants. It means soft goods. It means services. Cindy loves that there's going to be a nail salon delivering in the first project. It means places where you can go, you can meet up, you can work out. So what we're doing is really building community, and that is centered around the retail and the public space. We have 100,000 square feet of office. There hasn't been a brand-new office building built outside of what the Jaguars did near the stadium in 40 years. And the office stock downtown is aging, and that prevents new companies from wanting to come downtown and invest in downtown. So we're building an office building. We plan to build more eventually. We're building at least one hotel, if not two. Likely over 200 keys when we're finished. Hotel Marriedale, which we've announced before, which is a Marriott tribute collection. We'll have 100, and the former ambassador site, we'll have 110 keys alone. And that's just the first phase of what we hope will be many phases of that hotel and then others in the future. I mentioned the open space, an acre of open space, private open space that we're providing to the city. And, of course, parking spaces. We will have over 2,500 parking spaces to make sure everybody has a spot. You may. How many people here, there's probably a few, but how many people here have seen the old ambassador, which is now the Maryville Hotel? Oh, let me do this. How many people have not seen it? Come on, raise your hands. Joe? You seen it, Joe, back there? Okay. All right. How many people have not seen it, though? I just want to see. Well, okay. If there was mostly folks that weren't in the know like most of these folks are, there'd be a lot of hands raised. That is a beautiful historic hotel. And it's been on the listing of historic buildings to be restored for a long time. So, go ahead. Actually, I do kind of want to interject there as well. No, to that end, by the way, a former developer couldn't get that project done, right? Multiple development deals have been approved by city council, and the development deals did not get done because developers do not have the sophistication that we've seen at a gateway, right? The fact that you're doing a new construction that's completed in three weeks is exactly what the downtown needs. And then the fact that you're bringing up all the retailers that are going to be coming here, all I've heard was how in the 80s and the 90s, when all the downtown department stores left and went to Regency Square Mall and now eventually Town Center, how that really eviscerated kind of what the downtown feel was. And obviously, it felt like a ghost town here. By investing in these retail operators and new office, we're literally creating exactly what we need to bring more foot traffic and more people into our downtown. So, and that invests, I mean, on top of the fact that you consistently talk about future phases, the city is not here to say that we're financing every darn phase. In fact, we won't need to once phase one is complete and once people start seeing the value of this, the taxable income, and maybe you can speak to that a bit. Yeah, I can, and I am, you know, I'm here to say this will be the last completion grant that we will be asking for from the general fund in the city. This is, we really believe this is such a needle mover that it will help sustain and self-sustain future development. You know, it doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be a need for rev grants or something like that in the future, but we really believe that this completion grant is the key to unlocking future development, not just for our gateway jacks, but for other developers and to help sustain. If I could interject for a second right there, since you've said those words, which are important, and I hope folks have heard because that is a commitment that we have made to the city, that we really do believe that this one is what will get us over the line. But I get a lot of questions and I see it covered, so I think it's one of the things that people need to hear and understand is we've already given all of these completion grants out. Why isn't that enough? Why hasn't that done it? Why aren't we done? And that's an important question to ask because we have made strategic investments in the first phase, like I said, the first four blocks. And there's been some others downtown that have been very strategic and important. But what I think gets lost in that narrative is the fact that, yes, we have awarded those completion grants, but they're completion grants. And nothing is paid out until buildings are done. And none of these buildings are done. We do not have anything that is online and stabilized that tells the development community, investors, lenders, what is possible in Jacksonville. And that's really kind of the purgatory that we're in right now is, thank God, with the credibility that Brian and his team bring to the table, they've been able to recruit some investors and lenders that historically would not look at downtown Jacksonville because the numbers that we can show on a pro forma don't justify the investment. And we still don't have anything in operation that shows them that they've made a good bet on Jacksonville. It's going to take getting these first things out of the ground and people living in them and seeing how they live and operate before that's proven up. So we're almost there, but we're still in that period where we really need the city investment to get other folks to come to the table to take the risk on downtown Jacksonville. I should have mentioned earlier just some of the names that we've announced for new retail. Coletta, which is an Italian restaurant by Steve Palmer, who's based out of Charleston. Are you appealing to the two Italians up here? That's why I started with that. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, you did, actually. It was good. Really great old-fashioned spaghetti. None of this, like, fancy spaghetti. I passed that along, yeah. Coletta, the Italian restaurant. Bar Citro, which is based out of St. Augustine. It's a Michelin Bib Gourmand winter in St. Augustine. They're going to open their second location one and a half blocks from where we're at right now. Go Greek, which is a breakfast and yogurt Greek-based place. Buckner's Beer Garden, which will be opening in November, so only a couple weeks away. Pop-up Bagels, which is already open, I believe, at the town center. There's a location, and it's one of the best bagels I've ever had. You can only order three at a time, though, so be prepared to have a lot of bagels. Jet Set Pilates, they're going to be opening very soon. They're building out right now, and then Pearl Street Nails. And then we're also in advance negotiations with a Mexican restaurant to go alongside of all that retail. In addition to that, that's one building. That's one building out of nine, and all those tenants are going into one building. There are some buildings that have even more retail. Some of the retail that we're building will be more soft goods oriented, so you can think of furniture stores, places to go get clothing, athletic wear, that type of thing. So, you know, there was a mention of department stores earlier, and that's one of my favorite stories is to hear about the department stores that were downtown. The world of shopping has changed a lot. There aren't necessarily traditional department stores anymore, but the types of things that were in those department stores that were downtown will be coming back to downtown. But they're doing it because of the belief that Publix is going to get built here. And they would not be interested in coming downtown without that. Really quick, is it okay if we talk about the incentive return on investment? Really quick? Okay. I'm just going to throw out some numbers. We have mentioned this a couple of times. I cannot recall if we mentioned it in a public venue or not. But we, the DIA typically underwrites deals when it goes to its board and then eventually to city council. Those, the underwriting for those projects, I think almost always, if not always, is isolated to the, where the request is being asked. And just the property tax. And just the property tax. Based on that, the DIA has projected just, just this block alone with the Publix will pay back the city 1.1 to 1.45 times. We commissioned, we did a very large search of very highly respected studies that have been done throughout the United States over about the past 10 years on how grocery stores impact property values in urban walkable areas. And there was a general finding, probably not coincidentally because the, it's, the numbers all are saying the same thing, that there is an increase within half a mile, which is generally considered to be a, a, a, a comfortable walking distance. An increase in property values between 4 and 7% with the addition of a grocery store. And so that's not an increase in the amount of escalation. That is just over a baseline, a grocery store, like a Publix, opens up and property values, taxable property values increased 4 to 7%. If you were to add that up over 30 years, in downtown, which currently has a base of $900 million of taxable value, about $16 million a year, that is taxed, that is property taxed per year, there would be an increase over 30 years of $335 million that would go back to the city because of the opening of this grocery store. If you escalate that, that turns into about $500 million. And that is across the board property taxes in downtown, so that includes an additional school tax. We have the numbers here, $11 million a year in new public revenue alone, $7.3 million for Duval County Public Schools, $3.6 million for the city and county. That is also net of REV grants, so that does not include the REV grants that have been issued. And if I could just interject for a quick second, for those that are kind of crunched numbers in their head, I mean, we have a lot of people in this city, in this state, that are always concerned about property taxes, if the millage rate goes up. If you are a city council member, if you are someone looking at this from a financial perspective, investing in downtown and seeing these values go up to the level that you're explaining helps ensure that taxes stay low, the millage rate stays low within Duval County. And there are times where consolidation can be a real problem for overall, you know, downtown development and what's in the best interest of the taxpayer. But in this case, it's a huge win from my perspective, and I think others do see it that way, that if downtown really gets to the level that it can and I believe will in the years to come, the amount of revenue that it's going to bring to city coffers to help make sure that we don't have to add additional taxes later on on the north side or the west side of the beaches, it's a home run. And thank you. And two quick things, and then I'll turn it over back to the chair. But the first one is these, you know, don't take it from me, so to speak, on these numbers. We had one of the leading economists for the University of North Florida review our work, and he confirmed it. And we have a written confirmation of that that we'd be happy to share. We'll get it. Great economist. Yeah, we got it. Dr. Gallo. Dr. Gallo. Oh, thank you. But it was, you know, he certified, you know, and the studies were from Cambridge. There were some well-respected real estate consulting groups that did these types of things. So it's, you know, it was from a broad cross-section of data. The Cambridge study in particular is a little dense if you're looking for some fun weekend reading. But, you know, so again, don't take our word for it. And the other thing I would just say to kind of round it out on the investment side of things is, you know, we do believe that because almost all, this doesn't include Springfield, this is all of the DIA taxable area in the North Bank within a half mile of the site. So essentially everything's south to the river. And I'm glad you brought up Springfield because so many of my residents and constituents who live there are equally as excited about having a Publix and a pharmacy so close, as well as the different retail opportunities and options that you are discussing. Not to mention, it could help for Main Street and Springfield to allow for them to continue to develop their retail and commercial corridor. I do have to say I have to run. I have to go to my next Waterways Commission meeting. But I will say this is not, you know, a clown car random developer who showed up and is just putting their hand out. You're hearing the amount of effort and work that Gateway's put into this to help make sure that it's appropriate for the taxpayer and for the city of Jacksonville. This is an investment in our future. And I'm very excited for this future. I know that in the years to come, people are going to look back and be like, oh, yeah, I can't imagine why anyone cared about this. That's genuinely what I believe. People want this kind of stuff downtown, and it's coming if we allow it and vote accordingly. Thank you, Chair, and thanks, everyone. All right, Jimmy. Thank you for being here, sir. Final thing I'll note, if that's all right. I think that if Amendment 3 does pass, this type of property tax becomes all the more important. It is a commercial property tax, not residential. So I know there's been some comments from Council members about, well, let's wait and see what happens with Amendment 3. We think it's even more important if Amendment 3 passes that this get approved. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I appreciate it. And, Colin, I know you've got a meeting after this, so I'm going to let Colin have a few comments. And then when he's done, we'll eventually get to comments from the public, and I'll stay here until the end of that. But I also want to make time for anybody from the media that may like to ask questions, because that way the word gets out to the public. So go ahead, sir. Thank you for being here. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for pulling together this important public dialogue. For the record, Colin Tarbert, CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority. And I think from day one, I've been here just over a year in this role. And I think from day one, N7 has been the priority for downtown in terms of driving what I see as future investment. I think I concur with everything that has been said here before. DIA has done the underwriting review for this, so we go through in great detail. We've actually brought this to our board twice, and each time it was approved. And so this project really is kind of the linchpin of what we are working with Gateway to do, which is create a downtown neighborhood. I've seen it in my 20 years in working on the public side on urban revitalization that the downtown of the past is not coming back. Office is not going to drive the future of downtown. It's really going to be residential. And residents need a place to shop just like any other neighborhood. And so the grocery anchor development is key to unlocking all of that. And so we certainly saw that from a Downtown Investment Authority standpoint. We think it's a very prudent investment that is going to raise the value of the real estate across the whole downtown. We also write it very – we underwrite these very conservatively in terms of public benefits. So while we kind of have our way of doing it, that doesn't mean that we disagree with the developers' comments here. I think those are very fair and accurate. We just have our way of doing it. I also wanted to underscore the points that have been made here from my vantage point coming at this from an economic development standpoint. You know, our goal is not to give away public money. Our goal is to direct very strategic investments that have a return on investment for the public. And I think the chairman said it very succinctly earlier that downtown is the best opportunity to generate that economic impact per block. It's one of the few areas in Duval County and the city of Jacksonville where we welcome and want density. We welcome population increase. We want to see residents. We want to see traffic. Those are all really good things for us. And we have an underperforming downtown. I also say it's an underperforming, you know, waterfront asset that, you know, as we see developers are coming in, but us as a public entity representing the public side of this, you know, we need to capitalize on what we have, which is an amazing asset that's not producing the revenue that it should. And as these projects come online and as DIA moves forward with our plans and vision for downtown with everyone, it will become the economic engine of Duval County. And it should be, and it's not right now, and it absolutely can be. And if you look at any other city, we mentioned a bunch earlier, their downtown is the economic engine. It's outperforming the rest of the area. It's supporting the neighborhoods in terms of tax revenue and job creation, et cetera. And so we are on the way of doing that. But I think it was also remarked by Ms. Tremmer, like, we're also at the beginning phase of that. But unlike a year ago when I got here, now I can walk out the door and you can see the vision. I ran into Brian yesterday impromptu. And seeing the buildings at the finish level that they are, I think if you were a doubter in terms of downtown revitalization, now you can come downtown and see it if you're not an architect or developer. And you'll quickly understand the impact that this is going to have for many, many years. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions from the chair. I know there's a lot of activity going on there, cleaning it up and doing some preparation work there. And it looks like something along that might be cooking. Do you see anything coming down the pipe with that maybe in the next year? Hope so. We actually have our first kind of formal meeting with the development and ownership today to learn a little bit more about what they're planning for the TRIO. Is it an open meeting or is that just a- That's just a DIA meeting, just an internal phone call with them. So, yeah, just with the staff to learn a little bit more. It's beginning to take some steps maybe? I think given this developer's approach in terms of not just buying one building, but similar to what Gateway's done. As you know, Bekovic is, or Bekovic, I guess, Bekovic? Bekovic. Mohamed Bekovic. Mohamed Bekovic. I always want to say it incorrectly. Bought the Barnett building, which they're making investments in already. And then they bought the Carlisle 11E and the TRIO. So, very similar in the sense that they're placing a very large bet on downtown Jacksonville. And I think that will help them improve their investment in terms of the TRIO, which will be a very expensive, complicated project. Obviously, that's another one that has been sitting around for decades that hasn't been done. I'm very optimistic that the new ownership will have the vision and the capabilities to pull it off. I'm sure there will be some need from DIA and the city to help do that. But I think that would be another really strong investment for downtown. It's going to happen. It's going to be a great day. It's going to be a great time. Okay. So, thank you for being here. Thank you. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I appreciate it.