A renovated former FBI field office building in Arlington is now being leased as the Interra Apartment Homes after a more than yearlong renovation.
The Interra Apartments at 8000 Arlington Expressway is open for tenants.
“It is finally done,” said Nickolas Georghiades, principal with AXIA GeoCapital LLC and AXIA GeoCapital Inc., the owner and developer.
“It was challenging.”
Georghiades said Dec. 23 the kickoff begins mid-January.
Interra anchors a campus of properties at 8000 Arlington Expressway, which is between the Mathews Bridge and the former Regency Square Mall.
The six-story, 95,256-square-foot building was renovated into 95 one- and two-bedroom apartments, including two studio units.
“We stripped it down to the concrete and steel. We wanted a new building,” Georghiades said in an interview Nov. 21 as AXIA GeoCapital was preparing the marketing efforts.
“So everything is brand new.”
Coming in 2026, amenities will include a clubhouse, pool, fitness center, golf simulator, resident lounge, bodega and dog park.
The apartments are marketed as including stainless appliances, ceiling fans, full-size washers and dryers, luxury plank flooring and in some units, a kitchen island.
Rents are market rate for the area. The InterraApartments.com site indicates one-bedroom monthly rates start at $1,256 for a 668-square-foot unit and two-bedroom units start at $1,500 for 827 square feet.
Georghiades said the apartments will stage one of each of the four model types for marketing.
Virtual tours of the apartments are at the website.
The property is the first transformation of the three buildings on the property. The other two were former Offshore Power Systems office buildings that have been long vacant and vandalized.
“You could see just driving by there how drastically our site has changed,” Georghiades said.
“We are going to become the catalyst in that area to get revival and renewal done there.”
His group envisions a long-term plan to renovate all three buildings and add more.
“I think we are getting in early but I think 10 years from now we will be very happy we did this.”
Georghiades said the first building was completed without city incentives.
He said he was looking into city assistance for the next phases.
District Council member Ken Amaro
District City Council member Ken Amaro said in November that the owners are preparing to start on the next two buildings after a successful renovation of the FBI property.
“They’ve done a fantastic job with that building. It’s absolutely gorgeous what they’ve done,” said Amaro, who represents District 1.
“They are trying to get started on the other two.”
Amaro said in November he was putting the owners in contact with the mayor’s office to see about incentives for affordable housing.
He said he also will check into the availability of Recapture Enhanced Value Grants, which are a rebate on property and other taxes in exchange for redeveloping property.
“If I can get them some REV Grants I am going to do that because I think it is a worthwhile project that enhances that corridor,” Amaro said.
“It is transformational.”
The city
City Affordable Housing Administrator Joshua Hicks said Jan. 5 that no new conversations have been had with the developer about the next two buildings.
Hicks, with the city Neighborhoods Department, said previously that conversations were ongoing but he said Jan. 5 those stopped in November 2025.
"The developer has made previous requests for incentives for this project, but the city has not committed to their request," Hicks said.
He said that he would share information "if and when new conversations happen, and a possible deal is discussed."
Hicks considers the rates as posted on the website to be “affordable," with all of them considered by the Florida Housing Finance Corp. as affordable for people making less than 80% of the area median income.
He said the one-bedroom rate at $1,265 is roughly 65% AMI, and the two-bedroom at $1,500 is about 65% as well.
"This is an affordable and workforce housing project, managing for the fact that these are 'starting' rates and may be higher than advertised on the website," Hicks said.
"But as previously mentioned, since the city has no incentives involved at this time, the rents are solely determined by the developer."
A REV Grant that was previously approved for the first building was not paid because the development did not meet the completion timeline, Hicks said.
The property
The 16.42-acre property comprises the redevelopment of the three existing office buildings, which were developed in the 1970s, into apartments and the construction of more.
The FBI relocated its field office in 2009 to Gate Parkway.
With initial cleanup underway, the city issued a permit April 9, 2025, for the $2.4 million clearing, demolition and utilities to rehabilitate the first of the three. Site work and utilities contractor W. Gardner LLC of Jacksonville was doing that project.
The overall contractor is Axios Construction Services LLC of Fern Park. Fisher Koppenhafer of Jacksonville is the architect.
The city issued a permit Nov. 10 for construction of the 12,828-squar-foot amenity and leasing center at a project cost of $4.2 million. Avant Construction Group of Jacksonville is the contractor.
Jacksonville City Council enacted legislation March 25, 2025, to allow the transformation of the closed buildings into an office-to-residential project and new multifamily construction.
Council approved two sets of companion ordinances to redevelop the site in the 7800 and 7900 blocks of the expressway, which includes the former FBI building, the two vacant Offshore Power Systems office buildings and the closed and since demolished Jim’s Place restaurant and bar.
Plans call for the three existing six-floor office buildings to be converted into apartments, with construction of four new six-story buildings.
According to city Planning and Development Department staff reports, the land that includes the FBI and OPS buildings would comprise six multifamily buildings totaling 659 multifamily units, plus an amenities area.
The restaurant property would be redeveloped with a seventh building along with a dog walk and pickleball courts.
During hearings before Council committees and the Jacksonville Planning Commission, the project drew praise as an infill development that would address an eyesore along the expressway.
The two former OPS structures are vandalized with graffiti and broken windows.
Property owner and developer Marc Kozman, through Arlington Florida LP, acquired the four properties in separate deeds totaling $8 million. The limited partnership is affiliated with AXIA GeoCapital LLC, which operates in the U.S. and Canada.
The overall address now is 8000 Arlington Expressway.
The property at 7820 Arlington Expressway building is the former FBI structure, which was built in 1975.
The property at 7960 Arlington Expressway comprises two office buildings developed in 1972 and 1973 for OPS.
The former Jim’s Place was built in 1982 as a TGI Friday’s restaurant at 7900 Arlington Expressway. It was demolished in 2025.
Amaro said the vision of multiple buildings is “an enormous undertaking” that would create a significant density and transform the corridor.
“They’ve done a good job and I applaud them for the commitment and work they’ve done there,” he said of AXIA GeoCapital.
“They had a number of hurdles and now it’s off to the other two.”
What’s ahead
Georghiades said the developers have a long-run horizon, meaning they don’t want to build one year and sell the next.
“We have a project that will keep us busy the next 10 years,” he said.
He said the team wants to deliver what it promises so that it can tell the city “we put our money where our mouth is.”
“Once we do the other two buildings it won’t be recognized from what it was,” he said.
“We thought it was an important node in the city and we are hopeful the city works with us now and steps up too. We hope it’s a partnership.”
Georghiades said the name Interra was a marketing nod to the property being a central point.
“I think this is going to be a key part of town in the next 10 years,” he said.
The site is 2.3 miles east of the Mathews Bridge and 1.3 miles west of Regency Square Mall, which is being redeveloped as The Nexus at Regency.
The site is 5 miles west of Downtown Jacksonville, 8 miles north of St. Johns Town Center, 19 miles south of Jacksonville International Airport and 11 miles west of the Beaches.