As Mayor Donna Deegan and City Council President Ron Salem viewed the fire-ravaged Rise Doro apartment building Jan. 29, it was possible to imagine them coming to the site under different circumstances.
If the $65 million project at 960 E. Adams St. had been completed, elected officials like Deegan and Salem would no doubt have taken part in the ribbon-cutting.
City leaders had hoped that Rise Doro, the first major residential development in the Sports and Entertainment District, would jump-start similar projects and help propel Jacksonville’s yearslong Downtown revitalization effort.