Demo plans and property sale spark talks of change in Ortega
A controversial Planned Unit Development rezoning application has been withdrawn after ownership of two Ortega parcels has changed hands.
Bill 2024-0611 for the proposed “Ortega Carriage House” was withdrawn at a June 10 city council meeting. The rezoning application was for the development of 18 customizable units for office space with vehicle storage and related amenities at 4230 and 4218 Ortega Boulevard, previously owned by Gayle Bulls Dixon.
Peter Hunt is an Ortega resident who opposed the Carriage House Project. Now that the property is under new ownership, he is hopeful about what will happen next.
“We are hoping the property owner develops something that is in keeping with the character of the residential neighborhood of Ortega and continues to further uplift the community and preserve the historical nature of Ortega,” Hunt said.
According to county records, 2922 Corinthian Avenue LLC is the new property owner as of May 28. The sale was for $1.5 million. Luke Leonaitis and Lilian Welty manage this LLC.
County records show the LLC also owns 2922 Corinthian Avenue, the 0.66-acre parcel that was once home to First Guaranty Bank and Trust Company of Jacksonville before serving as a branch location for CenterState Bank.
Change in the Village
With the recent approval of two demolition delay applications at a Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission meeting, Ortega residents can anticipate more change coming to its neighborhood.
Brent Ross is the current property owner, under different LLCs, of 2928 and 2934 Corinthian Avenue. He wishes to demolish the existing structures on both parcels, paving the way for new development on those properties in the heart of Ortega.
Leonaitis, an Ortega resident, spoke in favor of the demolition applications at the May 28 meeting.
“It’s important to me that this area here is brought back to what it was some time ago,” Leonaitis said.
“What’s happened is this place has fallen completely down,” Leonaitis continued. “…There’s no community get-together in that neighborhood anymore. The proposal would be to build a beautiful English village because we have nothing in our neighborhood.”
However, the applications did not go unopposed. Carolyn Hawthorn, a Trips in the Village employee, spoke on behalf of the travel agency, which has operated out of its bungalow office at 2928 Corinthian Avenue for more than three decades.
“While the community, or the village, has lost some energy, it’s all been things that are unrelated to the value of the property,” Hawthorn said. “The village is still busy, there is still traffic throughout our village every single day…The building is fine, there’s nothing wrong with it, and we just ask that you don’t demolish it. We believe that the character is integral to the character of that community and that village.”
Trips in the Village owner Russell Glasheen declined to comment on the demolition approvals.
In a phone call following the commission meeting, Leonaitis said that there are no concrete plans for those parcels yet, nor has the project been handed off to a design team yet, but the idea is to “recreate the village.”
As the property owner, Ross included a letter to the preservation commission detailing the opportunity for any interested parties to relocate the structures on these two parcels to a different site at no cost, stating, in part, “We will allow a minimum of 90 days to accept a requirement of removal and be given another 30 days after acceptance to complete the removal.”
Resident News contacted Ross to see if anyone had expressed an interest in doing so, but it had not received a response by press time.
