The Beacon Riverside, a planned 15-story luxury condominium in Riverside on the St. Johns River, is moving forward incrementally.
The project’s developer NAI Hallmark Partners Inc., through affiliate HP 500 LLC, applied for a foundation permit last week.
Hallmark senior vice president Coen Purvis said the permit is part of a “natural progression” for Beacon Riverside.
The company finished a bulkhead and dock late last year, and has submitted plans for horizontal development in addition to the foundation application.
In the past, Hallmark principal Bryan Weber has said the company’s goal was to begin construction on Beacon Riverside when half the units were sold.
On Friday, though, he said by email the company had not yet reached that threshold. Still, firstquarter sales had left them feeling “quite optimistic,” he wrote.
The project is a risk — Jacksonville has not built a luxury condo tower in almost a decade, following the condo market’s recessionary fall from grace. Weber, under Flagship Communities LLC, led the development of the last one, Villa Riva, which is also in Riverside.
Beacon Riverside is planned to have 45 residences, with prices starting in the $700,000s and topping $2 million for penthouse units.
Weber said the company is “gearing up on our timeline” to start construction of the tower, now that preliminary site work is done.
Purvis said the Riverside neighborhood has a lot going for it, and that has helped the project’s viability.
“It’s a unique site,” he said of the project’s location. “We wouldn’t do it everywhere.”
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