A proposed Northbank marina named for former Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler is moving ahead, with the city reviewing civil engineering plans for the project.
The marina is at 330 E. Bay St., east of the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront hotel in an inlet bordered by Market and Liberty streets and the vacant site where the Duval County Courthouse was demolished in 2018.
Under the submitted plans, dated July 25, the scope of work is listed as construction of a harbormaster building, boat lift and docks, including grading and connecting utilities.
Construction would be carried out in three phases on the 4.48-acre site, of which one-third of an acre would be impervious area for the marina, boat slips and gangway.
The plans show a walkway along the west side of the inlet with two sets of slips connected to it near the north and central sections of the inlet. The harbormaster house is at the northwest corner.
Engineering consultants Pond & Co. and HDR prepared the plans, which identify the project as the Hans G. Tanzler Jr. Marina.
Brian Burket, waterfront project manager for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, told the Downtown Development Review Board in May 2025 that the city would spend about $34 million to fully build the marina .
The city 2024-25 Capital Improvement Plan included $12 million for the first phase of construction, called the Liberty Street Marina.
Conceptual plans submitted to the DDRB show a single-story, 2,000-square-foot harbormaster house clad with metallic screens that could be illuminated with multicolored lighting. The building includes a roof-mounted, mast-like pole that also could be lighted.
Burket said project organizers hoped to finish permitting and design of the initial phase this year, with a goal of doing the bulk of construction in 2027.
He said the marina’s first phase would create two sets of floating docks and the harbormaster house.
The second and third phases would include creating a floating dock on the south side that would also serve as a breakwater.
Tanzler served as Jacksonville mayor from 1967 to 1979. He helped lead efforts to clean up the river through the installation of sewer lines and elimination of outfalls of raw sewage into the channel.