JAX Chamber announced a marketing campaign Wednesday that chamber President Daniel Davis predicts will help Downtown reach 10,000 residents in less than two years.
At a news conference in the Vestcor Companies Inc.’s Lofts at Jefferson Station construction site, JAX Chamber Chair Debbie Buckland announced the launch of livedowntownjax.com and the Chamber’s LiveDowntownJax social media campaign.
Buckland said the campaign had its genesis during the chamber’s annual trip in 2018 to Denver. The takeaway by Chamber leaders from downtown Denver was that public investment could be the “underpinning” of a strong residential Downtown market.
“We learned that the driver for business and commerce in downtown are the people who live here,” Buckland said. “It might be a great place to visit but unless we can create a downtown that’s a great place to live, we’re not going to get where we need to go.”
The website is aimed at consumers with a marketing push to bring prospective residents Downtown. The online portal, which went live before Wednesday’s event, includes an interactive map of active and proposed Downtown residences, a Downtown housing survey and testimonials from Downtown residents.
The campaign is a partnership and has received the financial backing of Downtown developers including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Vestcor, JWB Real Estate Capital LLC, Corner Lot Properties LLC, GreenPointe Holdings LLC, Iconic Real Estate Investments LLC, NAI Hallmark LLC and Chase Properties Inc.
The Visit Jacksonville ,Downtown Investment Authority and Downtown Vision Inc. also are listed as partners.
Although Davis did not provide how much developers and city-backed entities have invested in the campaign, Vestcor President Steve Moore said it was “several thousand dollars” from each developer.
The benchmark of 10,000 residents has been a talking point for the chamber and DIA — the independent city-backed agency that manages the Downtown Community Redevelopment Area — in its push for residential development on the Northbank and Southbank.
Officials say that is the level when residential and supporting retail development become self-sustaining.
According to DVI’s 2018-19 State of the Downtown report, about 5,220 people live Downtown. Developers have 978 units under construction and 3,038 are proposed.
Vestcor holds the largest stock of Downtown residences with 604 multifamily units online, under construction or proposed. The developer also has 98 proposed for-sale townhomes in LaVilla in DIA and Downtown Design Review Board review.
The company also is involved in the development of a 1.52-acre site at 325 E. Duval St., the former Community Connections building, in partnership with the nonprofit Cathedral District Jax Inc.
Moore said after the news conference that Vestcor has more Downtown developments planned but not ready to be announced.
“I can tell you we’re working on a couple other communities in the Downtown area,” Moore said. “We’re looking everywhere in the Downtown footprint.”
Davis said the chamber intends to hire social media staffers to keep fresh the site and its campaign social media hashtag #LiveDowntownJax.
“It’s awareness. As in any situation, people need to know what’s available in Downtown,” Davis said. “Think about it. We’ve had all the developers come together to fund a way for people to go to one central location and get all that information.”
