"Location, location, location" have long been considered the three most important elements when it comes to real estate.
220 Riverside, the new residential rental development under construction along Riverside Avenue at Forest Street, was designed to take advantage of its location on a local and national level, said Alex Coley, Hallmark Partners principal.
Coley and Thomas Grimes Jr., executive vice president and chief operating officer at Mid-America Apartment Communities, were the keynote speakers Monday at the Rotary Club of Jacksonville's meeting at the Omni Hotel.
Coley said the development represents a 10-year commitment on the part of Hallmark to see the project to its conclusion. Mid-America will manage the property.
"We collect rents, pick up cigarette butts and serve the community," said Grimes.
He said Mid-America's more than 160 properties and more than 50,000 rental residences are located in markets including Atlanta, Broward County, Fredericksburg, Va., Houston and Phoenix. Jacksonville is the company's third-largest market.
Grimes said Mid-America entered the Jacksonville market in 1994 and has since grown to include more than $50 million in local property assets.
He said 220 Riverside is introducing a new community concept.
"It works strategically and it's going to work for our shareholders. It's going to activate the section of town that's between Riverside and Downtown," he said.
Coley said the 294 apartments at 220 Riverside will predominantly be one-bedroom units of less than 1,000 square feet. They will rent for about $1,250 per month. He said the target market is "young workers who are culturally creative."
The apartment community includes Unity Park, a 3,000-seat amphitheater adjacent to 18,000 square feet of specialty retail space along the Forest Street side of the property. It also includes an amenity deck overlooking the St. Johns River on the east side of the building.
Coley cited a report published in Forbes magazine that identified Jacksonville as the No. 2 market in the nation, behind only Austin, Texas, when it comes to the growth in the past 10 years of high-paying jobs in high-tech fields such as information technology.
Coley said Jacksonville has gained 90,000 such jobs in the past decade and the trend is for high-tech companies to migrate from high-cost, high-density markets to low-cost, low-density markets such as Jacksonville.
"We have reached critical mass. We are at a watershed moment in Jacksonville. There is a whole new Jacksonville being birthed. Unity Plaza is the epicenter," Coley said.
Construction of 220 Riverside began Nov. 13 and Coley said the projected completion date is in the third quarter of 2014.
"But my secret goal is to have a 4th of July party there next summer," he said.
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