Jacksonville music venues 1904 Music Hall, Underbelly owe city more than $20K in parking fees

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two popular music venues in downtown Jacksonville have struck a sour note with the city. Both owe the parking division more than $20,000 in unpaid parking fees that go back years.

1904 Music Hall and Underbelly are both well known spots to catch popular music but the city said they’re notably quiet when it comes to paying their parking tabs. The oldest invoice is from July 2021 and there 46 pages of unpaid invoices after that.

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Both venues are owned by BDJ Enterprises Incorporates, a company that owes $20,229.90 for parking meter rentals and has yet to pay a cent, records show.

The unpaid fees are for meter bag covers. They block off the parking spaces in front of the venue so the bands can load in and out or park their sleeper busses overnight.

Action News Jax Investigator Emily Turner went to the venues to track down the money and reason it hasn’t been paid. The venues are still clearly using the service and found meter bags covering the spots in front of Underbelly on Bay Street.

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But Action News Jax could not find the person responsible for paying for them. When we asked to speak with an owner, we were told, “I dont really want to talk to you guys,” by someone claiming to be “John” at the bar of 1904 Music Hall, even though the venue wasn’t open and he was busy working on a laptop there.

When I asked him about the more than $20,000 the venues owe the city for parking fees, he said “I don’t know anything about that,” and when I asked to talk to someone who did he said, “I’m not aware of this.”

We left our contact information but have yet to hear from anyone with the company or venues. The city said it is actively working with the joint accounting department to get the invoices paid.

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