Jacksonville, Fla.'s revitalization effort started 2024 with an estimated $8 billion of projects in the pipeline, first reported by Downtown Vision Inc., a not-for-profit made up of the city's downtown property owners.
The new year brought setbacks, including a fire that destroyed the nearly completed Rise Doro apartment complex, but work continued on a list of other projects stretching across downtown from Brooklyn to the city's Sports and Entertainment District, according to a March 18 article in the Jacksonville Daily Record.
Following is a status report on some of the bigger efforts that are moving forward in 2024.
Johnson Commons
Commuters entering the city from the west may have noticed significant construction activity at the site of this 91-townhome development adjacent to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority headquarters in LaVilla.
Corner Lot Development and JWB Real Estate Capital are partnering on the $23 million project, with a completion target of mid-2025. The townhomes are the only for-sale residential properties under development in the downtown.
According to Alex Sifakis, president of JWB, sales of the first units have so far closed in March, with 31 either under contract or sold.
The site also is adjacent to Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Park, named for the song written by Jacksonville's James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson, and considered to be the Black national anthem.
The park project, under construction since early 2021 and funded with a $5 million donation from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, received a key addition in the fall of 2023 when a historic shotgun shack was moved onto the property.
Artea at Southbank
In April 2023, Corner Lot broke ground on Artea, a four-story, 340-apartment transit-oriented development on property owned by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority near the Kings Avenue parking garage and Skyway station. It is being built on downtown Jacksonville's Southbank.
The $96.9 million multifamily property will offer studio, one-, and two-bedroom floor plans and balconies, a 425-space parking garage, a swimming pool and other amenities.
Construction is nearly halfway finished, with a targeted completion set for the summer of 2025.
Federal Reserve Bank
Brought back to life by JWB, the 100-year-old building at 424 N. Hogan St. is a $9.6 million adaptive reuse project marked for use as a restaurant and event space along with a 4,500-sq.-ft. courtyard for an outdoor seating and lounge area.
Sam Middlekauff, an associate with The Urban Division of Colliers North Florida, said the 19,420-sq.-ft., three-story building was fully leased last September by a tenant whose identity has not been revealed.
Home2 Suites by Hilton
Corner Lot and Kelco Management and Development Inc. are nearing completion on this $24 million, 100-room extended-stay hotel.
In June 2023, Players Grille announced it would lease ground-floor restaurant space in the hotel.
The six-story structure at 600 Park St. is on a 0.86-acre parcel that had previously been a parking lot used by Florida Blue.
Construction at the site started in August 2022 with a completion date likely in the next few weeks.
Lofts at Cathedral
Vestcor Companies is on track to complete this 120-apartment development at 325 and 327 E. Duval St.
The $26 million construction includes a $5.45 million renovation of the former YWCA building at the site. Plans call for 20 studio, 74 one-bedroom and 26 two-bedroom units.
Vestcor reported that the apartments, designed to provide affordable workforce housing, are approximately 70 complete.
RiversEdge: Life On the St. Johns
Dallas, Texas-based Preston Hollow Community Capital LLC announced in November that it expects to finish four parks for the mixed-use RiversEdge project by the end of 2024.
Costing $693 million, the development will sit on the Southbank site of the former JEA Southside Generating Station that was demolished more than 20 years ago.
It is expected to include 950 residential units, 147 hotel rooms, more than 330,000 sq. ft. of office and retail space, and a 225-slip marina. The installation of roads in and around the site highlighted its progress in 2023.
Four Seasons Hotel and Office Building
Marina work along the St. Johns River began in fall 2023 on the more than $300 million Shipyards development by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan's Iguana Investments.
The first phase of the project includes a 170-room Four Seasons hotel with 26 residences, a 157,000-sq.-ft. office tower, 200 parking spaces, and a 6,000-sq.-ft. marina support building.
In February, CBRE Capital Markets announced it had secured $37.9 million in construction financing for the office building.
The project is located near EverBank Stadium on Gator Bowl Boulevard. Its developers are aiming to have the hotel and office building finished in the summer of 2026.
One Riverside
After breaking ground on the former site of the Florida Times-Union newspaper building at 1 Riverside Ave. in September 2022, the first phase of Fuqua Development and TriBridge Residential's $250 million mixed-use development is beginning to take shape.
Four structures that include 225 apartments and a building for amenities make up the $59.9 million initial portion of the construction.
Plans call for the completed development to include 396 apartments, and 54,256 sq. ft. of retail space that will include a Whole Foods supermarket and restaurant space.
Riverfront Plaza
Construction got under way in January on the first phase of this $27.25 million park project on the former site of the Jacksonville Landing. The work includes building the riverwalk and bulkhead, plus construction of a cafe and playground.
In addition, the 7-acre site is slated to include a beer garden, bike and pedestrian connection to the Main Street Bridge, and native landscaping.
Last July, crews began to reconfigure roads and prepare new roadways for the park.
Gateway Jax
Developers plan to launch construction in the third quarter of 2024 on the first phase of the Gateway Jax mixed-use development project.
Its $500 million first phase, known as the Pearl Street District, includes 1,160 apartments and 99,000 sq. ft. of retail space across five blocks of downtown Jacksonville's NorthCore district.
Additionally, Gateway Jax LLC owns another 20 blocks downtown earmarked for future development.
In December, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority authorized its staff to begin negotiations with the developer to build a transportation-oriented mixed-use development on land next to the Rosa Parks Transit Station at Union and Laura streets.
If successful, that development also would become part of Gateway Jax.
JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital have partnered to develop and manage Gateway Jax.
Greenleaf & Crosby Building
The Jacksonville City Council approved $4.9 million in incentives for JWB to transform the 97-year-old building at 208 N. Laura St. into 44,000 sq. ft. of office space and 11,000 sq. ft. for restaurant and retail use.
JWB plans to move its headquarters at 7563 Philips Highway into the building. The cost of the project is estimated at $16.9 million, according to a Downtown Investment Authority staff report.
Sifakis said demolition work and interior build-out of three floors, one for JWB and two for new tenants, is currently under way. Later this year, he added, a first-floor retail build-out and more building renovations are planned to begin.
Jones Bros. Adaptive Reuse
The city council also approved just over $6 million in incentives for Corner Lot's $16.7 million adaptive reuse of the former Jones Bros. Furniture Co. building at 520 N. Hogan St.
The circa-1926 structure operated as a retail furniture store until the late 1980s but has been vacant for many years.
Architects are designing the reuse to include 29 apartments and co-work office space. It is one part of a larger project in which Corner Lot one day envisions a new building containing 148 apartments.
Construction on the nearly century-old building is expected to begin later this fall.
Artist Walk
Among the Jacksonville public projects now underway is the city's Artist Walk, an $8.8 million plaza that also will include a stage and turf lawn.
Motorists driving under the Fuller Warren Bridge on Park Street last year may have noticed metal structures shaped like the letters J, A and X being installed. They form ramps of a skateboarding facility that serve as the centerpiece for Artist Walk.
The plaza stretches from Park Street to Riverside Avenue and will connect the Emerald Trail, Northbank Riverwalk, and the Fuller Warren shared use path.
St. Johns River Park and Friendship Fountain
With the flip of a ceremonial switch on Feb. 15, Jacksonville's Friendship Fountain bubbled back to life after a $3 million renovation.
The upgrade included new lighting, audio equipment, programmable water jets and technology that will allow hologram-like images to be projected into the fountain's mist. The fountain project is part of a $15 million "Exploring the St. Johns River" attraction that will include a play park and botanical garden.
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