by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
The purpose of Downtown Jacksonville’s latest housing development — 218 W. Adams Lofts — is to offer affordable housing in the urban core.
The historic seven-story brick building in the 200 block of West Adams Street will be converted into modern lofts and its 30 units are now for sale.
This development is a joint venture between Miami investor Albert Moreno, Celia Guillen of Absolut Financial Resources, Inc. and Jacksonville attorney David Trotti.
“We like Jacksonville and there really hasn’t been anything done about affordable housing in the urban core,” said Moreno. “We liked the size of the building — just 30 units.”
Moreno added that a lot of the more recent housing developments are being built along the river and there isn’t a lot of housing in the urban core.
“This is right where everything is,” he said. “We found out about this property through a fourth person in Jacksonville that we knew.”
There will be five different floor plans ranging from 800 square feet to over 1,100 square feet. Prices are from the low $200’s to just over $300,000.
If it is a success, they are going to look into doing similar developments.
“This will give us a good feel for how the market is,” said Moreno. “We just want to get our feet wet in there. We love Duval County and we thought there was a lack of residences in Downtown Jacksonville.”
All of the lofts have high ceilings ranging from the highest at 16 feet to the lowest at 10-11 feet.
“The floor plans are nice,” he said. “It’s a true loft feeling with an industrial look to it.”
The building has a rooftop terrace with a lounge, an exercise area and views of the city. Each loft has 30 square feet of storage space. Owners will receive a complentary one-year membership to Gold’s Gym and parking. Moreno said parking is prepaid for three years and it has been arranged for the tenants to park in the new courthouse parking garage about a block away.
The bottom floor will be left vacant until they find a tenant.
“Ideally, we’d like a restaurant, but nothing is official,” he said.