City, state and congressional leaders gathered July 10 for the ceremonial launch of the second phase of Sulzbacher Enterprise Village, the homeless services campus under construction in Brentwood.
U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Florida, state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, Mayor Donna Deegan and City Council President Nick Howland were among those taking part in the groundbreaking event.
The $28 million second phase will bring health clinics, a Goodwill job training facility and a culinary program to the 17-acre site at 4785 Walgreen Road, west of Interstate 95 and east of the Brentwood Golf Course.
Major sources of funding for the project include the city of Jacksonville, which contributed $15 million, and the state of Florida, which provided $3.85 million.
Duggan, who led efforts to secure the state funding, said the concept of a campus providing wraparound services was neither a Republican nor Democrat idea but rather “a Jacksonville idea.”
“When I advocated for this funding, my colleagues understood this is how you actually solve a problem, not just put a roof over someone’s head,” he said. “It’s healthcare, job skills, a path, a future — all for the people the world so often walks past.”
The new campus was conceived as a replacement for Sulzbacher’s Downtown facilities, which board Chair Barney Smith described as functionally obsolete, flood-prone and in the path of Sports and Entertainment District development.
Officials expect the relocation to be completed in about two years.
Council member Jimmy Peluso, who attended the event and whose District 7 includes Downtown, said Sulzbacher’s move would be beneficial for Downtown revitalization while also providing higher-quality services and employment pathways for the homeless.
Plans call for Phase 2 to be carried out in two parts. Phase 2A includes a 30,000-square-foot medical facility in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, which provided $5 million in funding and a 14,000-square-foot job training facility.
The medical facilities will be open to both the Sulzbacher campus and the community and will serve both insured and uninsured individuals, speakers said.
Plans for Phase 2B include emergency housing, tiny homes, case management, corporate headquarters and an assisted living facility. The capital campaign for that portion of the project is scheduled to begin in fall 2026.
Auld & White Constructors is the contractor. Phase 1 is scheduled for completion in the fall, said Smith. That phase includes 100 affordable studio and one-bedroom workforce housing apartments serving homeless men. Cost of that phase, for which Sulzbacher is partnering with The Vestcor Cos., is $37 million.
The third phase is a for-profit manufacturing business for the people Sulzbacher serves.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held against a backdrop of a cleared construction site, showing that horizontal construction is well underway.
Howland said housing and feeding homeless individuals was noble, but “it’s a next-level thing to provide substance abuse treatment, mental health care, medical care, dental care and job training.”
“The result should never be just to house someone or to feed them. That should not be the primary metric tracked, because that is not the ultimate goal,” he said. “The ultimate goal or the result should always be to get someone back on the path of self-sufficiency into their own house and into a productive and fulfilling life.”
Truist provided a $6.5 million bridge loan for the project, which also drew $2 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Community partners in the project included the Terry Family Foundation, Lauren and Ted Baker, and The Jim Moran Foundation.
Sulzbacher also obtained New Markets Tax Credits for the project from Truist Community Capital, the Local Initiatives Support Corp., the Black Business Investment Fund and the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
Other attendees at the July 10 event included Council members Ju’Coby Pittman, whose District 10 includes the new Sulzbacher campus, and Chris Miller; Sulzbacher President and CEO Cindy Funkhouser; Mayo Clinic of Florida CEO Kent Thielen; Kathleen Shaw, executive vice president of The Terry Family Foundation; Elisha Gonzalez, Truist senior vice president of community affairs; Ryan Hoover, president of TVC Development Inc., part of Vestcor; and Nate Marty, CEO of Auld & White Constructors.