Gateway Jax’s Pearl Square district Downtown will see more blocks building now that the city has issued two permits Oct. 31.
The city issued a permit for the 286-unit, seven-story multifamily building known as 425 Beaver St., previously as Block N4, at a project cost of $60 million.
It also issued a permit for the eight-level, 480-space Ambassador Hotel parking garage at 320 W. Church St. at a project cost of $13.5 million.
FaverGray Residential LLC of Jacksonville Beach is the contractor for both.
At 425 W. Beaver St., the mixed-use building also will have 18,147 square feet of retail space and on-site parking.
Block N4 is bordered by Beaver, Clay, Pearl and Union streets.
It is northwest of Gateway’s first construction site, 515 Pearl St., which broke ground in October 2024.
City Council approved a $14.1 million Recapture Enhanced Value Grant and a $6.84 million completion grant for 425 Beaver St. and a $9.06 million REV grant and $4.63 million completion grant for 515 Pearl St.
Gateway Jax said that together, the two projects would include about 500 residential units and 40,000 square feet of retail space.
Pearl Square comprises nine city blocks, a portion of the 25 total that have been acquired for the Gateway Jax development.
Gateway Jax is a partnership between Principal Bryan Moll, JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital LLC. The partners’ land holdings for the project span 32 acres, which if fully built-out would be a $2 billion investment.
During an interview at the May 29 groundbreaking for Block N4, Moll said plans called for construction to begin in fall 2025 on the vacant lot on Block N8, west of the Ambassador Hotel at 420 N. Julia St.
At the time of the purchase in March 2025, Moll said the Gateway partners planned to renovate the Ambassador back into a hotel and would resurrect the Central National Bank building with residential and commercial space.
For that part of the development, Council approved a $33.88 million REV grant and $25.55 million completion grant for a minimum 21-story building with at least 508 residential units and about 30,000 square feet of ground floor leasable retail space.