JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A lawsuit involving the former Regency Square Mall is drawing attention in Jacksonville. Impact Church of Jacksonville claims it was wrongfully excluded from a multimillion-dollar real estate deal involving the mall property.
Action News Jax reviewed the lawsuit, which shows the church is now taking the property’s current owners to court.
We reached out to Impact Church and went to the church seeking comment, but did not receive a response. However, in a sermon posted to the church’s YouTube account, Pastor George Davis addressed the lawsuit.
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“By now, you’ve probably seen on social media that we initiated a lawsuit against the current owners of the Regency Square Mall property.”
According to the lawsuit, Impact Church owns one building at the former Regency Square Mall and says it was supposed to be part of a deal to purchase the entire property.
The lawsuit states the church entered into an agreement in 2024 for real estate services and provided a down payment. The church claims the property was later closed in a sale in April of 2025 without its knowledge.
Pastor Davis said the church has been part of the property for more than a decade.
“We decided to come to the Square mall over 10 years ago, we bought this building; we own our building.”
The lawsuit alleges the broker hired by the church diverted the deal.
“We hired a gentleman to be our broker to be the one who faced a deal, but we are the ones who put up all the money, the deposit that was put down to purchase them all as our money. It is still the same money that was used to help purchase them all and so what happened is the person that we had kind of fronting the deal for us did some things that are just absolutely deceptive things that are to just were not right way for it to happen and instead of closing the property with us as we’re supposed to maneuver some things and close the property without us.”
We reached out to the broker but were unable to reach him for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Impact Church also claims the new owners failed to honor agreements related to common area maintenance and utility services.
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Pastor Davis said the church attempted for nearly a year to resolve the dispute before filing suit. He added that the church’s plans were focused on broader redevelopment of the Arlington area.
The current owners, Blackwater Regency, are asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the claims are not valid under Florida law. Action News Jax also attempted to ask whether the lawsuit could delay redevelopment of the mall property, but calls were not returned.
Impact Church provided this statement:
“We’ve been forced to take legal action against the new owner of the former Regency Square Mall for swindling the community by defrauding Impact Church. Rurmell McGee and his business partners stripped Jacksonville of truly transformational change – plans that would bring an estimated $400 million and 3,000 jobs to the Arlington neighborhood over the next 10 years.
Mr. McGee and his associates secretly and unlawfully negotiated a separate deal for their own personal gain while Mr. McGee was serving as a real estate broker to Impact Church. The scheme also bilked the church out of $100,000; funds designated for developing the original, once-in-a-generation project that Mr. McGee was contracted to represent. These illegal activities leave us with shallow plans that fail to revitalize a declining neighborhood desperate for the resurgence that Impact Church offered, and Mr. McGee squandered. Mr. McGee and his business partners continue to cause harm by failing to maintain our property, allowing it to drift into disrepair.
In response, we’re pursuing legal action to uphold our rights, protect the future of our ministry, and our ability to serve the community we’ve called home for nearly a decade. We believe everyone benefits when development happens fairly, lawfully, and respects the people and organizations who help the neighborhood and community thrive.
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