J Magazine Winter 2019

Last year, Simpson Memorial United Methodist
Church moved out of its deteriorating property
at Kings Road and Cleveland Street.
considered offering the property for redevelopment,
Luckey said. But several nonprofits
meet at the church, including the Downtown
Ecumenical Services Council, which provides
food, clothing and financial assistance
for the needy.
The church is involved with Cathedral
District-Jax, a nonprofit started by St. John’s
Episcopal Cathedral to foster the redevelopment
around the Cathedral.
The Cathedral has been involved in
Downtown redevelopment since the 1960s,
under the leadership of Dean Robert Parks,
who left in 1971 to become rector of Trinity
Wall Street. Parks built three high-rises for
about 650 seniors and a rehabilitation center
Downtown.
More recently, Dean Kate Moorehead
established Cathedral District-Jax, which is
spearheading the redevelopment of the old
Community Connections (YWCA) property
next door to the Cathedral. The Vestcor
Company is buying the property and plans
to build the Lofts at the Cathedral with mar-
rate and affordable housing. Lket
ori Boyer, chief executive
officer of the Downtown
Investment Authority,
said the churches are
an important player
Downtown because they
bring people Downtown.
But since churches are tax exempt, they
haven’t contributed to the economic base of
Downtown.
“The possibility that some church property
could be available for development has
the potential for activation on more than
Sunday and Wednesday, but five or seven
days a week,” Boyer said. “And it would put
those properties on the tax rolls and help
contribute to the overall tax base.”
The unique thing about churches is their
architecture. Sanctuaries are not the most
adaptable structures but offices and classroom
space are.
That has been the challenge facing the
old Snyder Memorial United Methodist
Church property on Hemming Park. The
historic church, founded in 1870, is on the
National Register of Historic Places. The
Gothic Revival building of granite and limestone
was constructed in 1903 to replace the
sanctuary destroyed in the Great Fire of 1901.
The church closed in 1992 and the
property was bought in 2000 by the River
City Band, which performed in the sanctuary.
The city took over the mortgage and has
owned the building since the early 2000s
after the band moved out.
Several ideas have been floated to convert
the church into a museum, a visitors center
or a club but nothing has materialized.
Boyer said Snyder is a high priority for
redevelopment.
“It’s a wonderfully iconic building in the
center of Downtown,” Boyer said. “We have
quite a bit of interest. I’m really hopeful we
will have some genuine offers within the
next 12 months.”
At least three groups have expressed
interest lately, including one from out of
town. Boyer said all of the proposals are
revenue-producing.
Also generating a lot of interest is the First
Baptist property, 12 acres in the Cathedral
District that has seen little redevelopment.
“I think they’re trying to be deliberate
about what they do with the property so they
get what they want and not just sell it off to
the highest bidder,” Boyer said.
“I would love to have a master plan for
that property. From a city perspective, there
are few places in the urban core that have
that quantity of land that is available. There’s
an opportunity to do something much
bigger, a medical campus or a university
presence. It would take time to pull it together,
but I’d like to see the possibilities before
we lose the opportunity.”
First Baptist has not disclosed its plans,
but in September, when asking for the congregation
to support the sale of the property,
Lambert said, “I want to stop the decline of
the Downtown church and want to be a better
neighbor to Downtown. I think this plan
allows us to simultaneously do both.”
Downtown, once dominated by the
massive presence of First Baptist Church, will
have a new look.
Lilla Ross, a former Florida Times-Union editor,
lives in San Marco.
JEFF DAVIS (2)
Located across from Hemming Park, Snyder
Memorial United Methodist Church closed in
1992. The building remains vacant.
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J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2019