From staff
Former Mayor John Delaney once talked about the “billion-dollar mile” on the Northbank that would one day stretch from the Landing down past the Shipyards. The billion is happening, but just not quite as Delaney envisioned.
According to Downtown Vision, Inc. more than $687 million in development projects have been completed downtown since 2001 and there’s another $524 million worth of projects currently under construction on both sides of the St. Johns River.
This is no longer your grandfather’s downtown. In fact, it’s not even your uncle’s and evidence of that can be found by looking no farther than at what is currently on the proposal table: another $2.3 billion worth of developments that include condominiums, high-rise office buildings, parking garages and a nearly total renovation of the Landing.
DVI also expects major changes to the Southbank. The organization anticipates the announcement of a new 300-room hotel for the Southbank in the next few years as well as firm details regarding the development of the old JEA Southside Generating station, a 45-acre tract just east of the Duval County School Board building. Together those two development sites will constitute one of the largest waterfront developments in the South.
Downtown residential units also are on the rise. Currently there are 1,432 units, 543 built the past five years. There are 800 units currently under construction and another 2,000 have been proposed by developers on both the Northbank and Southbank.