The Downtown Investment Authority seeks to attract investment, facilitate job creation and increase residential density through capital investment, planning, marketing, and public-private partnerships including the provision of incentives.
Downtown Jacksonville has long been a place where ambition often outpaced reality.
Renderings came and went. Big ideas surfaced, stalled or shifted. Public officials and civic leaders spent decades talking about the urban core’s comeback, even as many Jacksonville residents remained skeptical that the city center would ever reach the critical mass needed to feel like a true neighborhood.
Downtown Vision Inc.’s latest State of Downtown Report argues that moment is no longer theoretical.
The nonprofit Business Improvement District’s 2025 report shows a downtown with $7 billion in its development pipeline, 9,228 residents, 19.7 million annual visits and several of the region’s largest public and private projects moving from plans into active construction.
For DVI CEO Jake Gordon, the numbers point to a downtown that is entering a different phase.
“Investor confidence has never been higher,” Gordon told the Business Journal Wednesday.
The report covers Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2025, and marks DVI’s shift from an 18-month reporting cycle to a calendar-year format. The change is meant to better track downtown’s momentum across development, housing, office, tourism, parks, infrastructure and other measures of urban vitality.
The report lands at a moment when several transformative projects are advancing at once: Gateway Jax’s Pearl Square, Related Group’s RiversEdge, the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium renovation, the University of Florida graduate campus in LaVilla, Baptist Health’s McGehee Family Tower and new or improved riverfront parks on both sides of the St. Johns River.
“Downtown Jacksonville is no longer a future conversation. It is happening right now, and the momentum is undeniable,” said Colin Tarbert, CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority, in a statement accompanying the report.
The report places downtown’s 2025 development pipeline at $7 billion, including $809 million completed in 2025, $3 billion under construction, $36 million approved and $2.8 billion in review or proposed.
That follows $2.6 billion in completed investment from 2000 to 2015 and $3.4 billion from 2016 to 2024, according to the report.
Gordon said those numbers matter because they provide a more concrete way to measure a downtown that has often been judged by perception.
Jacksonville has talked about downtown’s comeback through multiple mayoral administrations, he said. That long history can make residents focus on the stops and starts. But investors looking at the city today see a different picture: large parcels, rising demand, improving amenities and a downtown that still has room to grow.
The report describes 2025 as a “landmark year” in which “decades of visioning and planning yielded significant, tangible progress toward the multi-year transformation of North Florida’s urban center.”
Among the largest projects under construction or advancing are the $1.4 billion “Stadium of the Future” renovation, the $693 million RiversEdge development, the $500 million first phase of Pearl Square, the $387.6 million One Tower Court and Four Seasons project, the $250 million One Riverside project, the $202.7 million Southbank Residences tower and the $190 million Baptist Health expansion.
Gordon said the scale of those investments is important, but so is who is making them.
He pointed to local investors, such as JWB Real Estate Capital and Gateway Jax, as early movers that helped build confidence. But he also said the arrival of groups like Related, which has invested heavily elsewhere in Florida, signals that Jacksonville is now getting attention from companies that were not previously focused on the market.
Perhaps the most important number in the report is not the dollar value of the pipeline, but the number of people now living downtown.
Downtown Jacksonville’s residential population reached 9,228 in 2025, a 20.5% increase from the previous year and a 97% increase since 2016, according to the report. The urban core had 5,655 residential units and a 96% occupancy rate, with the report’s summary page listing 1,576 units under construction and its housing section pointing to more than 2,100 units under construction in the broader pipeline.
The report projects downtown’s population could reach 13,382 by 2028, with the number of units increasing to 8,200.
For years, 10,000 residents has been treated as a key milestone in downtown’s effort to support more restaurants, retailers, grocery stores and neighborhood services. Gordon said downtown is now close enough that the milestone feels real rather than aspirational.
He said the increase from 2016 is especially striking because that was his first full year working in downtown Jacksonville.
“The idea that we’ve added that many residents, more than double the residents, is really impressive,” Gordon said.
The report says 2025 brought 1,380 new residents occupying 958 newly constructed units, primarily from Artea on the Southbank, One Riverside in Brooklyn, Union Terminal Warehouse in the Sports and Entertainment District, Lofts at Cathedral in Cathedral Hill and Johnson Commons in LaVilla.
Gordon said the market is also becoming more varied. Downtown now includes affordable housing, market-rate apartments, high-end rentals, townhomes and luxury riverfront options.
That range matters, he said, because the urban core is becoming a more realistic choice for different types of residents.
“It’s literally a more attractive option as a place to live than it’s ever been,” Gordon said.
He pointed to the Toll Brothers townhomes at RiversEdge, where units have been selling for more than $1 million, as one example of how far the market has moved.
For Gordon, the takeaway is not only that downtown has added residents. It is that people are willing to pay premium prices for new housing in the urban core, especially when it is paired with riverfront parks, walkability and nearby amenities.
The 96% occupancy rate also gives developers a stronger case for future projects.
“If you build buildings and they’re not all the way full, that’s not a good sign,” Gordon said. “But 4% vacancy in residential units is really good.”
The report is anchored by major developments, but Gordon said downtown’s future cannot be built on marquee projects alone.
Pearl Square, RiversEdge, the stadium renovation, the Four Seasons and UF’s graduate campus can change downtown’s trajectory. But smaller storefronts, restaurants, bars and adaptive reuse projects are what fill in the experience between those anchors.
“You need both,” Gordon said.
He said it would be unrealistic to expect public agencies to spend the same amount of time on a small restaurant or bar as they spend on a billion-dollar stadium deal. Still, the success of downtown from a visitor or resident perspective often depends on the density of smaller uses between large investments.
Projects such as The Raven, Mag’s Cafe and other independent concepts may not carry the same tax base or construction cost as a tower or campus, but Gordon said they help shape the day-to-day experience of downtown.
That balance is central to the next phase of downtown’s growth.
Gordon described downtown as a kind of barbell, with the Sports and Entertainment District and riverfront investment on one end and LaVilla, the JTA Regional Transportation Center and UF graduate campus on the other. The challenge now is filling in the space between those anchors so that downtown functions as a connected district instead of a collection of isolated nodes.
The DIA’s approach to the former courthouse and City Hall Annex site is one example, he said. Rather than wait for a single massive redevelopment of the entire site, the agency moved forward with a portion of the property near the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, where Corner Lot is planning a riverfront project.
That type of incremental strategy, Gordon said, can help raise values and make the next phase more viable.
“You can’t just roll one ball uphill,” he said. “You’ve got to roll all balls at the same time to make downtown great.”
The report describes 2025 as a “monumental year” for downtown public spaces, with the opening of or improvements to Riverfront Plaza, the parks at RiversEdge and the playground at St. Johns River Park/Friendship Fountain.
The first phase of Riverfront Plaza opened in November 2025 at the former Jacksonville Landing site. The $32.5 million phase includes a six-acre urban park with a playground and tiered lawn. The report says it drew nearly 21,000 visitors in its first month.
The playground at St. Johns River Park/Friendship Fountain, completed in April 2025, welcomed more than 55,000 visitors within its first month, according to the report.
The parks at RiversEdge, a $35 million component of the Southbank mixed-use development, hosted more than 20,000 visitors within the first month of opening.
The report also says 74% of visitors to downtown’s three new riverfront parks in their first month came from within 3 to 30 miles of downtown Jacksonville, suggesting the spaces are drawing regional residents, not only nearby downtown users.
More than $230 million in additional public space investment is in the pipeline, including Riverfront Plaza Phase 2, McCoys Creek Park, the Riverfront Music Garden, Metropolitan Park, Shipyards West Park, James Weldon Johnson Park and Hogan’s Creek Restoration & Greenway.
Gordon said those investments matter because public spaces help connect the larger development nodes now taking shape.
He pointed to the Riverwalk, Emerald Trail, scooters, bike lanes and other mobility options as key pieces of downtown’s next phase. As downtown grows, he said, the question should not be how to make it easier for every visitor to park directly in front of every destination. It should be how to create more ways to move through the urban core without relying on a car for every trip.
“Our car-centric transportation should not be the focus,” Gordon said.
As Brooklyn, Pearl Square, RiversEdge, the Sports and Entertainment District and LaVilla all grow, Jacksonville faces a new challenge: making those areas feel connected.
Gordon said that will require a mix of transportation options, including walking trails, scooters, bikes, riverfront connections, ride-share, transit and better use of existing parking.
He said downtown still has plenty of parking if people are willing to walk a few blocks, but he cautioned that cities trying to build stronger downtowns are not solving their growth challenges by simply adding more parking garages.
“There is not one city in America that’s building up its downtown that’s choosing parking garage,” Gordon said.
The point, Gordon said, is also tied to downtown’s economics. Parking garages and surface lots produce less taxable value than dense mixed-use buildings, offices, hotels and residential towers. A stronger downtown tax base helps fund services and infrastructure across the broader city.
He compared the issue to other cities that invested in their downtowns over decades, including Nashville, Tampa and Miami. Those cities now face problems of congestion and affordability, but they also show the fiscal power of dense urban districts.
Jacksonville, he said, has a different challenge because of its size. With nearly 900 square miles, the city must provide infrastructure over a vast area. A stronger downtown can help support that broader system.
“What you would want is a very dense urban core that funds a lot of your city,” Gordon said.
The report’s overall message is optimistic, but Gordon cautioned that downtown revitalization does not have a final endpoint.
Even cities with far larger and more mature downtowns are still working on density, transit, parks, housing, affordability and retail.
“It’s literally a race that never is done,” Gordon said.
For Jacksonville, the difference is that the next phase is now more visible.
Cranes are in the air. Residents are filling new buildings. Riverfront parks are opening. Major institutions are expanding. Investors who once overlooked Jacksonville are paying attention.
The challenge now is whether those pieces can be connected into a cohesive downtown experience.
The report notes downtown occupies less than 1% of Jacksonville’s land area but provides 4.3% of the city’s property tax revenue, 32% of its hotel tax revenue and 8% of its sales tax revenue. It also serves as the region’s cultural center, employment hub and primary gathering place.
Gordon said that makes continued investment in downtown not only a civic priority, but a citywide business case.
“Downtown is an important part of that,” he said. “Incentivizing the urban core to get better is valuable.”
By James Cannon
Jacksonville Business Journal
Gateway Jax has unveiled the first wave of restaurants, fitness studios and service businesses that will help anchor Pearl Square, its nearly $1 billion redevelopment of nine blocks in downtown Jacksonville’s Urban Core.
Six newly announced tenants will occupy the ground floor of Vandeveer, the district’s first mixed-use residential building, which is expected to welcome its first residents in late summer 2026.
The lineup includes a Michelin-recognized St. Augustine restaurant, an outdoor biergarten, a national bagel concept and a Mediterranean yogurt brand making its Northeast Florida debut.
“Downtown Jacksonville is emerging as one of the Southeast's most closely watched urban markets," said Bryan Moll, CEO of Gateway Jax. "Residents, visitors and companies will be drawn here by a growing ecosystem of retail, hospitality and public green space where the neighborhood itself is the amenity. The retail mix at Vandeveer has been intentionally designed to bring daily life to the Urban Core, encourage everyday activation and support the kind of walkable, connected environment essential to downtown Jacksonville’s continued evolution.”
The tenants will open along pedestrian-oriented streetscapes and public green spaces surrounding the historic Thomas V. Porter Mansion, part of Gateway Jax’s effort to create a walkable retail and dining destination within Pearl Square.
“Jacksonville’s retail landscape is evolving at an incredible pace. The curated mix at Vandeveer is a testament to the growing national appeal of the city’s urban core,” said Kelly Pulignano, senior vice president of The Shopping Center Group. "This transformational project introduces a new standard for urban living and shopping in Jacksonville. Gateway Jax’s vision for Pearl Square is coming to life as a unique, premier destination that will help define the city’s future.”
Among the new additions is Bar Citra, which will occupy 2,000 square feet. The St. Augustine restaurant received a Bib Gourmand distinction in the 2026 Florida Michelin Guide and is known for its coffee program, pastries, seasonal plates and wine list.
The Pearl Square restaurant will be the first location outside St. Augustine for owners Rachel Gant and Andrew Deming.
Murray Hill’s Buchner’s Bierhalle will also expand downtown with Buchner’s Biergarten, an outdoor concept planned for the Porter House Lawn. The biergarten will serve German beers from a vintage-inspired Citroรซn truck alongside shareable small plates.
Virally Famous PopUp Bagels will occupy 1,443 square feet and become the brand’s second Jacksonville location. Founded in Westport, Connecticut, in 2020, the concept serves bagels hot from the oven and encourages customers to tear and dip them rather than order them sliced or toasted.
Florida partner Kal Gullapali, of Built Different Brands, opened the company’s first Jacksonville location at the St. Johns Town Center in late 2025.
Go Greek Yogurt will open its first Northeast Florida location in a 1,141-square-foot space. The Mediterranean lifestyle brand operates more than 25 locations across the United States, Europe and the Middle East and offers Greek yogurt and Greek bowls.
The Pearl Square shop will be its third Florida location.
Two wellness and personal-care concepts will round out the initial lineup.
JETSET Pilates will lease 2,495 square feet for its third Northeast Florida studio, following locations at The Palms at Gate Parkway and Jacksonville Beach. The franchise offers high-intensity, low-impact workouts using custom-designed reformers.
Pearl Street Nails will occupy 2,032 square feet and offer manicures, pedicures, nail enhancements, waxing and organic treatment options. It is the newest concept from a regional operator with more than 20 years of industry experience and more than 135 salons across the Southeast.
The six tenants join previously announced Publix and Colletta, an Italian restaurant planned inside the restored Hotel Merrydelle.
Gateway Jax said its retail strategy for Pearl Square is centered on full-service dining and shopping, with a mix intended to balance local identity and national-brand credibility.
"Our leadership team brings direct experience from Water Street Tampa and National Landing in Arlington, Virginia, where we created vibrant, 18-hour environments where none had existed before," Moll said. "We've applied those same lessons to Pearl Square, engaging The Urban Division at Colliers for retail brokerage that balances local identity with national brand credibility. Gateway Jax, Colliers and Of Place worked collaboratively on a comprehensive retail strategy for Vandeveer’s ground floor that reflects both the character of Jacksonville and the standards of the nation's leading urban districts."
Buchner’s Biergarten and JETSET Pilates are expected to open in fall 2026. Additional tenant openings are anticipated through early 2027.
By James Cannon
Jacksonville Business Journal
Citing confirmations from Jacksonville City Council members, Daily Record news partner News4Jax reported June 14 that the Culinary Institute of America has selected Jacksonville as the site of its Southeast campus.
The New York-based institute voted on a site in June but has not announced the results of that vote. News4Jax said Council members confirmed to reporter Briana Brownlee and photojournalist Jesse Hanson that the institute had chosen Jacksonville.
News4Jax quotes Council member Jimmy Peluso, whose District 7 includes Downtown, as saying, “We are going to be this massive hub for the Culinary Institute of America, and since we got selected, it’s kind of putting the ball back in our court, or at least the Downtown Investment Authority’s court, to negotiate a deal with CIA.”
Council voted 16-2 on May 26 in favor of Ordinance 2026-0419, which expresses Council approval for the CIA campus and authorizes city staff to negotiate a finalized incentives agreement with the institute. Members Rory Diamond and Mike Gay voted no, and member Will Lahnen was not present.
The approved legislation does not bind the city to an economic development agreement. Rather, the ordinance serves to encourage the CIA board to select Downtown for its Southeast campus and confirms Council support for up to $35 million in incentives.
During a June 23 meeting of the Council Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, DIA CEO Colin Tarbert told the committee the Culinary Institute had voted on a site but had not publicly revealed its selection. Tarbert said the institute was organizing an announcement involving local partners in the project.
Corner Lot and Aspect Real Estate Group, partners in the project, submitted the only response to a DIA notice of disposition for a 0.8-acre portion of a 2.6-acre property along the St. Johns River Northbank. Disposition is a process by which city-owned property is transferred to the private sector for redevelopment.
The DIA documents said the property would also include space for Project Caymus, which was identified as an academic institution that would operate culinary demonstration and teaching kitchen facilities and offer professional development and continuing education programs.
Project Caymus has been identified as the Culinary Institute of America.
The institute’s Southeast campus is planned as part of a proposed 14-story tower with a hotel and conference center at 330 E. Bay St. on the site of the demolished Duval County Courthouse.
The ordinance says the city incentives would go toward the CIA establishing a 50,000-square-foot campus Downtown. It says the city’s Tourist Development Council has pledged $1 million for the project.
Under proposed terms in the supporting document, the city would provide $8 million in workforce development funding and $27 million from the Downtown Riverfront Residential Incentives Contingency Fund, which was established by Ordinance 2025-0385 and contains $30 million.
The document says the city of Jacksonville’s proposed commitments include possible use of funds from the city’s $150 million portion of its $300 million Community Benefits Agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That agreement is tied to the $1.45 billion deal to transform EverBank Stadium into the team’s “Stadium of the Future.”
Funding per year would be $4 million in 2026-27, $6.25 million in each of the next two years, $8.25 million in each of the following two and $2 million in the sixth year.
Among other proposed commitments, the city would work with the developer to help obtain state funding.
The developer’s proposed commitments include providing at least 12 educational programs in 2026, establishing and maintaining a presence in Downtown Jacksonville until the new campus is complete. It also would pursue state and federal funding, including New Market Tax Credits.
Another commitment is to develop marina, public spaces and any additional parking needed for the site.
The state of Florida will contribute $2 million toward the project.
The Culinary Institute of America was established in 1946 in Hyde Park, New York. In addition to its home site, the institute operates two campuses in California’s Wine Country, one in San Antonio and one in Singapore.
By Ric Anderson
Jacksonville Daily Record