Jacksonville University will work with The District developers to make sure the Downtown development lives up to its “healthy town” concept.
JU’s Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences signed on as the academic partner to the health-inspired mixed-use development planned for 30 acres of Southbank riverfront property.
The college will study the quantitative and qualitative effects of the “healthy town concept” being promoted by developers Peter Rummell and Michael Munz.
College Dean Christine Sapienza and Heather Hausenblas, professor and associate dean of the college, are co-principals of project.
“We are able to capture community stories as well as statistics based on scientific research that seek to validate the health impacts of The District’s offerings, and show how those offerings improve the physical, mental, emotional and social health of residents,” Sapienza said.
She said it was an “entirely new endeavor for us.”
The District will be geared toward what Munz and Rummell refer to as “Generation H,” which they define as people who value a healthy and active lifestyle.
JU’s involvement will be to “provide credibility” to the healthy-living concept, according to a news release Monday.
“We intentionally designed The District to offer residents every element they need to live the healthiest of lives, and we want to be able to empirically and qualitatively prove that having access to and utilizing all of these resources in one place does in fact help make people healthier,” Rummell said in a statement.
The property is owned by JEA. A purchase agreement between the utility and the development group is expected to be signed by the end of the year, with construction starting in early 2018.
When complete, The District could include more than 1,100 residential units, a hotel, office space, retail, restaurants and bars.
The concept features a public park, bike paths, an extension of the Southbank Riverwalk and other health-related programming.
@DavidCawton
(904) 356-2466