JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An iconic Jacksonville building is finally getting a facelift. The Bostwick building has been a Jacksonville staple for more than 100 years but has become an eyesore.
Now, developers have finalized a $6 million plan to transform the building into the Cowford Chophouse restaurant.
Cowford will create 55 new jobs and is part of a restaurant group that includes Ovinte at the St. Johns Town Center and Bristro Aix in San Marco.
The building will be the first construction project under the Downtown Investment Authority.
This announcement came Tuesday, more than two years after the project managers went before City Council, asking for a demolition permit. That permit was deferred, so instead the company will begin work on the historic Bostwick building, keeping its original structure.
"What we often see in the past few years is when we do demolish these buildings, we get little to nothing in return," said Oliver Barakat, chairman of DIA. "We get empty lots or surface parking, and those things don't contribute to the vitality and life of downtown."
The Bostwick building is known to many as the Jaguar building because of the artwork covering the panels. Soon, it will be known for its steaks and rooftop bar.
"The fact that they had a great concept and I know some of their restaurants around town -- if you're going to take a gamble and take a risk, you take it on them, so it was the right investment opportunity for us to get into," DIA CEO Aundra Wallace said.
Cowford Chophouse will have two floors and a rooftop bar with a "cow-fish" as its mascot.
"It's a relief," said Jacques Klempf, who owns the building, "because there's been a lot of work behind the sidelines to get to this point."
Because of the nature of the project, the DIA approved a $250,000 loan from the Downtown Economic Development Fund, which is providing the funds from the savings the city has from refinancing its bond portfolio.
The project might also get a half-million dollar grant from the Historic Preservation Revitalization Trust Fund, but City Council has not approved those funds yet.
Mayor Alvin Brown said breathing new life into the Bostwick building is an investment that will pay off in the future.
"This is an opportunity for us to use this as leverage to continue to invest in Jacksonville, make Jacksonville a destination, have more people working downtown, living downtown with access to restaurants," Brown said.
And as for the iconic jaguar artwork, the business owners said the panels will be removed and returned to the artist.
Exterior work will begin in May, and the owners plan to open the restaurant in the summer of 2016.