LAST UPDATED: November 27, 2019
Sometimes seeing the current state of downtown Jacksonville can cause frustration for residents hoping for more activity.
It can be easy to lose perspective on exactly how much money
is being poured into creating a more lively, modern downtown area over the next
decade.
There are well over a billion dollars worth of active and
proposed development projects going on within downtown Jacksonville. Some
projects, of course, are further along than others – and some, like Shad Khan’s
grand plans for the Shipyards property, still feel like a distant reality at
best. But many are already under construction and will be ready as soon as the
end of the year.
To help keep track of everything that’s going on downtown, we’ve
compiled a list of all the active and proposed development projects that we
could gather from our records – divided up by district. We’ll keep updating the
list as we locate more projects in our records, or in city records, as well as
adding new projects as they’re announced.
If you want to be in-the-know about what’s coming to downtown
Jax, make sure you save this article!
CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Ambassador Hotel + The Annex (310 W. Church St.)
- Augustine Development Group is converting the historic Ambassador Hotel building into a 127-room LaQuinta Inn and will also add a 200-unit apartment building with 15,000 sq. ft. of retail
- The Barnett Tower (112 W. Adams St.)
- Renovations to the Barnett Bank building, adding 100 residential units, a satellite campus for UNF, and Vagabond Coffee and Chase Bank as ground-floor retail tenants
- VyStar Credit Union campus expansion (76 S. Laura St. + 100 W. Bay St.)
- VyStar recently moved into the 23-story tower at 76 S. Laura St. and is converting the adjacent building at 100 W. Bay St. into more office space; they also plan to invest $15 million into public art and adding retail
PROPOSED
- Florida Theatre renovations
- The historic theatre plans to undergo $10 million in renovations in time for its 100th anniversary
- Hyatt Place (Independent Dr. / Hogan St.)
- A planned 128-room hotel near VyStar’s new campus
- Independent Life building redevelopment (233 W. Duval St.)
- Augustine Development Group plans to turn the old Independent Life/JEA building into apartments, a grocery store, a restaurant, and a rooftop bar
- JEA Headquarters (325 W. Adams St.)
- A new HQ building for JEA is proposed near the Courthouse – but will JEA manage to fund it with their “dire” economic situation?
- Jones Bros. Furniture Building redevelopment (520 N. Hogan St.)
- The historic Jones Brothers and Western Union buildings would be converted to provide 28 apartment units and over 10,000 sq. ft. of retail space
- Laura Street Trio redevelopment
- SouthEast Group plans to convert the trio of historic buildings into a Courtyard Marriott hotel and a high-end restaurant complete with rooftop bar, as well as adding a new parking garage
BROOKLYN
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Brooklyn Place (Riverside Ave. / Leila St.)
- Addition to Brooklyn Station featuring Panera Bread, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi
- Vista Brooklyn (200 Riverside Ave.)
- 10-story, 308-unit apartment complex with over 10,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail space
PROPOSED
- FIS headquarters expansion (Riverside Ave. / Dora St.)
- Locally-based financial software company FIS is looking to build a 12-story, $145 million HQ building on what’s currently a parking lot along Riverside Ave.
- Lofts at Brooklyn (Spruce St. near Brooklyn Park)
- 133-unit affordable housing apartment complex by Vestcor
- Park Street road diet
- Planned narrowing of vehicle right-of-way along Park Street to accommodate the addition of bike lanes
- Parking garage at Park & Forest
- A new parking garage is proposed for the current site of a city retention pond, to be built by Florida Blue and to include spaces set aside for public parking
- Residence Inn by Marriott (Forest and Magnolia streets)
- A new 136-room hotel planned next to Unity Plaza
CHURCH & CATHEDRAL DISTRICT
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Elena Flats (122 E. Duval St.)
- Historic building being converted into four luxury apartment units
- Lofts at Cathedral (325 E. Duval St.)
- Approx. 140-unit apartment building by Vestcor
PROPOSED
- Ashley Square Senior Housing (Ashley and Beaver streets)
- Aging True plans to build a 120-unit senior housing complex that would include a parking garage and special pricing for low-income seniors
- Ashley Street Container Project (412 Ashley St.)
- JWB Real Estate plans to turn 18 stacked shipping containers into a tiny affordable apartment complex
- First Baptist Church redevelopment (several blocks)
- FBC plans to condense its 10-block campus down to a single block, selling off the other properties gradually
LAVILLA
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center (1111 W. Forsyth St.)
- A new JTA transit hub that will centralize most of the organization’s operations
- Lofts at Jefferson Station (799 Water St.)
- 133-unit affordable housing complex from Vestcor
PROPOSED
- Emerald Trail “Model Project”
- A 1.3-mile mixed-use path to run from Prime Osborn Convention Center to the S-Line Rail Trail in Springfield as phase one for the larger Emerald Trail project
- Vestcor townhomes (multiple blocks along Adams, Johnson, Lee, Forsyth streets)
- Vestcor plans to develop 88 townhome units on long-vacant lots surrounding Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park – and will contribute $100,000 to the park’s funds
SOUTHBANK
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower (Palm Ave.)
- A new 7-story tower that will serve as the new “front door” for Wolfson and Baptist Health on their shared campus, along with 5 floors of critical care space for infants and children
- Riverplace Boulevard road diet
- A narrowing of the Riverplace Blvd. vehicle right-of-way to accommodate a multi-use path and street parking
PROPOSED
- Chadbourne II LLC mixed-use development (1230 Hendricks Ave.)
- former Florida Baptist Convention property will be developed into around 350 apartment units and around 5,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail/restaurant space
- The District (east of Prudential Dr. / Broadcast Pl.)
- Elements of Jacksonville’s plan to add 950 residential units, 147 hotel rooms (AC Hotel by Marriott is signed on for the project), 200,000 sq. ft office space, 134,000 sq. ft. retail, a marina, and a public park on a 30-acre former JEA site
- MOSH expansion (1025 Museum Cir.)
- Museum of Science & History has plans to re-orient their campus toward Friendship Fountain and expand it at a cost of $80 million
SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
PROPOSED
- Bay Street Innovation Corridor
- A broadly-termed proposal to turn Bay Street into an incubation point for innovation, with potential additions including a test track for JTA’s Ultimate Urban Circulator and new energy-saving roadway designs
- Doro District (102 A. Philip Randolph Blvd.)
- A planned redevelopment of the Doro Fixture Co. building into a multi-use, entertainment-centric complex; Intuition Ale Works and Manifest Distillery are existing tenants in phase one of the district
- Lot J redevelopment (1 TIAA Bank Field Dr.)
- Lot J of TIAA Bank Field will be redeveloped into a new entertainment district to serve as phase one of Shad Khan’s Shipyards vision
- The Shipyards redevelopment (The Shipyards / Met Park)
- A joint venture between Iguana Investments and The Cordish Companies that would add 600 residential units, 450,000 sq. ft. of multi-use space, a 300-room luxury hotel brand, and a marina to the sports district
- That Bar at the Arena (234 A. Philip Randolph Blvd.)
- The bar, located next to VyStar Veterans Arena, is looking to add onto its existing building and to add more outdoor seating