Jacksonville’s Downtown revitalization effort started 2024 with an estimated $8 billion of projects in the pipeline, as reported by Downtown Vision Inc. The new year brought setbacks, including a fire that destroyed the nearly completed Rise Doro apartment complex, but work continued on a list of projects stretching across Downtown from Brooklyn to the Sports and Entertainment District.
Here’s a status report on some of the bigger Downtown projects that are moving forward, being overhauled or in the rearview mirror.
Commuters entering Downtown from the west may have noticed significant construction activity at the site of this 91-town home development adjacent to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority headquarters in LaVilla.
Corner Lot Development and JWB Real Estate Capital are partnering on the $23 million project, with a completion target of mid-2025. The town homes are the only for-sale residential properties under development Downtown.
According to JWB Real Estate Capital President Alex Sifakis, sales of the first units closed in March.
He said 31 units are under contract or sold.
The site also is adjacent to Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park, named for the song written by Jacksonville’s James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson and considered to be the Black national anthem.
The park project, under construction since early 2021 and funded with a $1 million donation from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, received a key addition in the fall of 2023 when a historic shotgun shack was moved onto the property.
WHAT'S GOING UP: PRIVATE PROJECTS
Corner Lot broke ground in April 2023 on a four-story, 340-apartment transit-oriented development on property owned by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority near the Kings Avenue parking garage and Skyway station.
The $96.9 million multifamily property will offer studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans and balconies, a 425-space parking garage, a swimming pool and other amenities.
Construction is nearing 50% completion, with targeted completion in summer 2025.
Brought back to life by JWB Real Estate Capital, the 100-year-old building at 424 N. Hogan St. drew a tenant in September 2023. Sam Middlekauff, an associate with The Urban Division of Colliers North Florida, said the 19,420-square-foot, three-story building was fully leased by a tenant whose identity hasn’t been released.
JWB’s $9.6 million adaptive reuse was marked for use as a restaurant and event space along with a 4,500-square-foot courtyard for an outdoor seating and lounge area.
Corner Lot and Kelco Management and Development Inc. are nearing completion of a $24 million, 100-room extended-stay hotel.
The six-story structure at 600 Park St. is on a 0.86-acre parcel that had previously been a parking lot used by Florida Blue.
Construction started in August 2022 with targeted completion in the first quarter of 2024.
In June 2023, Players Grille announced it would lease ground-floor restaurant space in the hotel.
Vestcor Companies has set a completion target of summer 2024 for this 120-apartment development at 325 and 327 E. Duval St.
The $26 million project includes a $5.45 million renovation of the former YWCA building. Plans call for 20 studio, 74 one-bedroom and 26 two-bedroom units.
Vestcor reported that the apartments, which are designed to provide affordable workforce housing, are 70% complete.
Dallas-based Preston Hollow Community Capital LLC announced in November 2023 it expects to finish four parks for the mixed-use RiversEdge project by the end of 2024.
The $693 million development on the site of a former JEA generating station on the Southbank is expected to include 950 residential units, 147 hotel rooms, more than 330,000 square feet of office and retail space, and a 225-slip marina. Installation of roads highlighted site progress in 2023.
Marina work began in fall 2023 on the $300 million-plus Shipyards development by Shad Khan’s Iguana Investments.
The first phase of the project includes a 170-room Four Seasons hotel with 26 residences, a 157,000-square-foot office tower, 200 parking spaces and a 6,000-square-foot marina support building.
On Feb. 14, 2024, CBRE Capital Markets announced it had secured $37.9 million in construction financing for the office building.
The project is located near EverBank Stadium on Gator Bowl Boulevard. Completion is targeted for summer 2026.
On the former site of The Florida Times-Union at 1 Riverside Ave., the first phase of Fuqua Development and TriBridge Residential’s $250 million mixed-use development is taking shape.
The $59.9 million phase includes four structures that include 225 apartments and an amenities building.
Plans call for the completed development to include 396 apartments, 54,256 square feet of retail space to include a Whole Foods and restaurant space.
Groundbreaking for the $250 million project was held in September 2022.
Riverfront Plaza
Work began in January on the first phase of the $27.25 million park project on the former site of the Jacksonville Landing.
The phase includes work on the riverwalk and bulkhead, plus construction of a cafe and playground.
Plans call for the 7-acre site to include a beer garden, bike and pedestrian connection to the Main Street Bridge and native landscaping. In July 2023, work began to reconfigure roads and prepare new roadways for the park.
Developers plan to launch construction in the third quarter of 2024 on the first phase of the Gateway Jax mixed-use development project.
The $500 million first phase, known as the Pearl Street District, includes 1,160 apartments and 99,000 square feet of retail space across five blocks of Downtown’s NorthCore district.
Gateway Jax owns about 20 blocks Downtown with plans for future development.
In December 2023, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority authorized staff to begin negotiations with project developer Gateway Jax LLC to negotiate a transportation-oriented mixed-use development on land next to the Rosa Parks Transit Station at Union and Laura streets. That development would be part of Gateway Jax.
JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital partnered on and manage Gateway Jax.
The City Council approved $4.9 million in incentives for JWB Real Estate Capital to transform the 97-year-old building at 208 N. Laura St. into 44,000 square feet of office space and 11,000 square feet for restaurant and retail use.
JWB plans to move its headquarters at 7563 Philips Highway into the building. The cost of the project is estimated at $16.9 million, according to a Downtown Investment Authority staff report.
JWB President Alex Sifakis said demolition work and interior build-out of three floors, one for JWB and two for new tenants, is underway.
He said a first-floor retail build-out and more building renovations are planned this year.
The City Council approved $6.03 million in incentives for Corner Lot’s $16.7 million adaptive reuse of the former Jones Bros. Furniture Co. building at 520 N. Hogan St.
The project will include 29 apartments and co-work office space.
The circa-1926 building operated as a retail furniture store until the late 1980s but has been vacant for years.
The renovation is one part of a larger project in which Corner Lot envisions a new building containing 148 apartments.
Construction is expected to begin in fall 2024.
WHAT'S GOING UP: PUBLIC PROJECTS
Work began in January on the first phase of the $27.25 million park project on the former site of the Jacksonville Landing.
The phase includes work on the riverwalk and bulkhead, plus construction of a cafe and playground.
Plans call for the 7-acre site to include a beer garden, bike and pedestrian connection to the Main Street Bridge and native landscaping. In July 2023, work began to reconfigure roads and prepare new roadways for the park.
Motorists driving under the Fuller Warren Bridge on Park Street may have noticed metal structures shaped like the letters J, A and X being installed during 2023.
Those structures form ramps of a skateboarding facility that serves as the centerpiece for Artist Walk, an $8.8 million public plaza that will also include a stage and turf lawn.
The plaza stretches from Park Street to Riverside Avenue and will connect the Emerald Trail, Northbank Riverwalk and Fuller Warren Shared Use Path.
With the flip of a ceremonial switch Feb. 15, 2024, Friendship Fountain bubbled back to life after a $3 million renovation.
The upgrade included new lighting, audio equipment, programmable water jets and technology that will allow hologram-like images to be projected into the fountain’s mist. The fountain project is part of a $15 million “Exploring the St. Johns River” attraction that will include a play park and botanical garden.
The collective theme tells Jacksonville’s indigenous and natural history.
WHAT'S IN LIMBO
The Laura Street Trio of historic buildings returned to the drawing board in early 2024 when the Jacksonville City Council directed the Downtown Investment Authority to work with the project’s developer on a new incentive package.
SouthEast Development Group has proposed reviving the Trio into a $175.1 million adaptive reuse project that would combine renovation of the historic buildings with new construction.
DIA CEO Lori Boyer said the authority focused on the renovation portion of the project in crafting three new options that have been presented to SouthEast.
The Trio was built from 1902-1912 at Laura, Forsyth and Adams streets. It comprises the Florida National Bank, Bisbee and Florida Life Insurance buildings.
The Related Group of Miami hit an unexpected obstacle when estimates of construction costs for its proposed 24-story tower on the Southbank came in $30 million more than anticipated. But the project hasn’t been written off.
Boyer told the DIA board in February 2024 that the DIA staff and Related were working on a new incentives agreement that she hoped to present in March.
The project, which would include a ground-floor riverfront restaurant, is planned on the former site of the River City Brewing Co.
Days before its fire sprinkler system would likely have been activated after undergoing a city-mandated pressure test, the Rise Doro apartment building caught fire Jan. 28, 2024.
The blaze would burn for two nights, with firefighters dumping thousands of gallons of water on it before bringing it under control Jan. 31. The $65 million development was declared a total loss, and demolition of the wood-framed portions began Feb. 2 to prevent the walls from collapsing onto nearby structures.
The fire was a blow to the Downtown revitalization effort, as Rise Doro was to be the first major development to come online in the Sports and Entertainment District.
Developer Rise, which is based in Jacksonville, says it plans to rebuild in the district and has ordered an analysis of the concrete portion of the podium-and-wood building.
WHAT'S OFF THE TABLE
Two of the biggest projects on the Northbank have failed to launch, done in by rising construction costs and a tight capital market.
The American Lions tower and Hardwick at Ford on Bay no longer “pencil out” under the incentives packages they received from the city, said Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer.
In 2022, American Lions received approval for $36.93 million in incentives for its 44-story residential tower next to the Riverfront Plaza public project.
That same year, Atlanta-based developer Carter drew approval for $41 million in incentives to build a 22-story mixed-use project on the site of the former Duval County Courthouse.
Both projects were planned on city-owned properties.
Boyer said the DIA is likely to put those parcels back up for disposition by mid-2024, meaning that new offers would be sought on them.
At a March 6 community event to discuss Downtown projects, Boyer indicated that the DIA was expecting to receive a new proposal for the Ford on Bay site.
In a Dec. 12 email to the DIA, a representative for the real estate investment trust MAA sent Boyer an email saying MAA wanted to discuss the site.
The representative, Joseph Lentz from Cushman & Wakefield, described MAA in the email as a self-funded entity that isn’t dependent on outside sources of capital.
Augustine Development Group defaulted on its incentive agreements to resurrect the Ambassador Hotel, Central National Bank and Independent Life building.
It has not sought extensions. Boyer said the DIA had heard the developer seeks to sell the properties.
