By Moshay Simpson
Times-Union business writer

Jacksonville's Northside is two City Council votes away from a new shopping center, office space, hotel and movie theater.

Plans for the proposed developments were approved by the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Monday and bode well for a part of town better known for what it lacks in retail and entertainment than what options it has to offer.

All of that will change, though, if developers of Hope Plaza and Moncrief Plaza Shopping Center get their way.

Each project is earmarked by the Northwest Jacksonville Development Fund for loans and grants, pending City Council approval, which could come as early as next Tuesday.

The Moncrief Plaza project, which would be near Moncrief Road and Myrtle Avenue, is slated to get a $718,000 grant and a $2.1 million loan from the development fund.

The money would be used for construction of the 24,100-square-foot plaza, which would be built on the site of the former Daylight Grocery Store. If developed, Moncrief Plaza would add an estimated 60 full-time jobs to the area. It could beby fall 2002.

Tony Nelson of the First Coast Black Business Investment Corp. and part of the project's development team, told commissioners at Monday's meeting that it is in negotiations to get tenants but does not have any signed yet.

Hope Plaza, an ambitious, six-phase $30 million project, will bring a movie theater, entertainment and recreation center, office building, hotel and two restaurants, adjacent to Interstate 95 on Clark Road.

Not-for-profit Helping Others Prepare for Employment, better known as HOPE, along with INOC LLC, wants to acquire and develop an existing 62,404-square-foot office building and three undeveloped parcels to create the 32-acre Hope Plaza.

The Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund agreed to give the project a $3 million grant to start, pending the City Council's blessing. The project is expected to add 607 new full-time jobs to the Northside.

--------------------------------------------------
  If approved by the City Council, the $30 million Hope Plaza would bring office space, a hotel and a movie theater to Jacksonville's Northside. -- Special--------------------------------------------------

Phase one of the project, renovating the office building on Clark Road, is expected to be completed by December 2003, to create 277 jobs and to cost roughly $4 million to complete.

Phase two, a 10-acre entertainment center, is expected to be finished June 2005 and cost $9 million price tag and add 75 jobs.

Phase three, a multiscreen movie theater, is slated toDecember 2005, create 125 jobs and cost $8 million.

Phase four, a 100-suite, limited-service hotel creating 60 jobs and costing $6 million, is expected to be complete by spring 2007.

Phase five, a family-style restaurant, is expected to be completed by 2005, creating 35 jobs and costing $2 million.

Phase six, a $2.5 million sports grill is slated toJuly 2005 and expected to create 35 jobs.

After a failed attempt to build a Magic Johnson theater and the much-delayed Main Street Mall project, the Northside's luck may be changing.

City Councilwoman Gwen Yates, who represents the Northside district, said she wasn't worried that these new projects would get bogged down by the economic woes afflicting business and development nationwide. She said these projects are the springboard to more development in the Northside.

"This is the beginning of something great," she said.