The city issued a permit April 14 for Downtown’s Gateway Jax Pearl Square development called Block N8 at a project cost of almost $145.21 million.
PCL Construction LLC is the contractor for the project to include short-term rentals, apartments, retail and restaurant space, a gym, parking and more.
Block N8 is at 440 W. Beaver St., bounded clockwise from the north by Beaver, Pearl, Ashley and Clay streets.
Plans specify a 22-story building connected with what appears to be a 13-story building and a three-story structure, totaling 198,181 square feet of space.
The 537 rentals comprise 394 apartments and the 143 short-term units. The latter are designed to attract tenants in town for area business, including education and health care.
“They are short-term rental units, not a hotel as you’d typically think of one,” said Gateway Jax CEO Bryan Moll by email in May 2025.
Moll said Gateway Jax was working with a third-party operator to manage the 143 units, which he said will be furnished and have full kitchens and baths like usual apartment units, but have shorter-term stays, typically less than 30 days.
“If available, a person could book for one or more nights, just like a hotel, but they will be integrated into the N-8 building,” Moll said.
“We expect most of the stays to be focused on longer-term relationships/partnerships, including businesses, educational institutions, major health-care institutions, etc.”
Block N8 is about eight blocks north of the proposed University of Florida graduate campus, which intends to offer master’s degrees in science and management, engineering management, computer science and architecture.
Other master’s programs include use of artificial intelligence in biomedical and health sciences, plus a law degree aimed at nonattorneys who work in fields that interact extensively with the law, such as compliance and human resources.
The university also will offer professional one- and two-year master’s of business administration degrees.
Block N8 also is two blocks south of the Florida State College at Jacksonville Downtown Campus and about 1 mile from the UF Health Jacksonville academic health care center in the Springfield neighborhood.
Moll said the short-term rental operator, which he did not identify, “has an award-winning hospitality focus, and will likely operate the full building’s ‘customer facing’ components, including the front desk and amenity services,” such as towel and food-and-beverage service on the pool-amenity deck, the gym and related functions.
Block N8 will include the amenity pool deck on the fourth level of the lowest building.
Jacksonville City Council approved a $33.88 million REV grant and a $25.55 million completion grant for the project.
Gateway Jax is a partnership between Moll, JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital. Pearl Square is part of a wider development that would involve an investment of more than $2 billion across 25 city blocks.
Ground-floor retail
Plans show four ground-floor retail spaces along with a fitness center and lobby, and a reception center for the rental units.
One retail space is at the building corner at Clay and Beaver streets and the other three are at Pearl, Ashley and Clay streets. The fitness center is at Beaver and Pearl streets.
There will be two levels of parking.
Through 606 Pearl Street LLC, Gateway Jax owns the property.
The city issued a site-clearing permit Sept. 10, 2025, for the 2.4-acre site.
England-Thims & Miller Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer.