Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
The St. John, a 51-story condominium tower on Jacksonville’s Southbank, will be the tallest structure on the south side of the St. Johns River. The St. John was unveiled by Hines developers earlier this month and will have 300 residences ranging in price from $400,000-$2 million.
The units are not being sold yet as pre-sales haven’t been determined - that should be coming by early summer.
The 640,000 square-foot tower is adjacent to the Aetna building and will take 24 months to complete once construction begins and is expected to be open by 2009.
Hines also developed Palencia, the mixed-use community in northern St. Johns County, and Michael Harrison, senior vice president of Hines, said the company is more of an urban developer than what’s been seen with that project.
Hines has projects in 13 countries in more than 90 cities around the world, and is now leaving a footprint in downtown Jacksonville.
“There are 1,000 new residents per day moving to Florida. That’s pretty telling to a company like Hines,” said Harrison. “We see an opportunity over the next two decades to grow our presence throughout Florida.”
Miami architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia said the city has good soil and the design works with the location and logic of designing in Florida. Brescia described the tower as a “tree.” The condos are wrapped around a core, which will have a light atop it.
Naomi Lumley, director of sales for Hines, predicts that physicians will be some of the first one buying the condominiums because of the proximity to Baptist Medical Center.