It’s been an eventful decade for Jacksonville.
The city experienced growth both in its population and in the form of dozens of major development projects. It moved closer to achieving the long-awaited revitalization of downtown and toward forming a city-wide identity.
The Coastal began publishing in December 2015, so we were around for just under half of the decade. But to honor the 2010s in Jax, we put together our collection of what we believe to be the biggest stories in Jacksonville from the past decade.
Check out our list below and be sure to let us know your thoughts on the decade’s most important events.
The 2010s were quite kind to many of Jacksonville’s oldest neighborhoods.
Springfield, the city’s oldest suburb, experienced the beginnings of a revival of its key Main Street corridor. Nearly a dozen new businesses now line Main Street, occupying storefronts that had sat vacant for years – or, in some cases, decades. Its close-knit community has grown exponentially as long-vacant residential properties become viable living units once again.
Riverside, which had already begun to experience a renaissance in the previous decade, solidified its place as one of the best walkable neighborhoods in the Southeast. Vacancies were filled in Five Points, and several trendy new eateries popped up in the area as well.
LaVilla, which has been mostly a collection of vacant lots ever since the mass demolitions of the ‘90s, gained hundreds of new residential units and is home to the city’s new Greyhound station as well as the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center, which should wrap up construction next year.
And Brooklyn has grown most of all, adding a new shopping center with big-name national tenants as well as multiple high-end apartment developments.