More than three years after the city began to search for a developer to build for-sale town houses in LaVilla, Corner Lot Development Group and JWB Real Estate Johnson Commons LLC broke ground Oct. 18 on a 91-unit project.
Representatives of the Johnson Common partnership joined city officials for a ceremony at the 3.45-acre site in the historic Downtown neighborhood near the future Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park and the JTA Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center.
Corner Lot COO George Leone said the three-story town houses will be priced in the mid-to-high-$300,000s and will be “a little higher end” than the multifamily affordable and workforce housing built in LaVilla in recent years, primarily by The Vestcor Companies Inc.
“We’re going to drive some price points in the area,” Leone told reporters after the groundbreaking.
“Development so far in LaVilla is a little bit more on the affordable side. Well, now we’re going to bring a little nicer product and try to get people that live and want to work in Downtown Jacksonville.”
Corner Lot and JWB have been working with the Jacksonville Downtown Investment Authority since March 2021 to build what Leone estimates will be an $18 million to $20 million project.
City Council agreed to convey the land, appraised in 2019 at $3.58 million, to the Johnson Commons partnership for $100 in exchange for keeping the prices affordable for middle-income buyers— what the city considers “the missing middle.”
It will be the first large-scale, single-family home project built in Downtown Jacksonville’s historic black neighborhood since much of LaVilla’s housing was acquired and demolished by the city in the 1980s and ‘90s.
Designs approved by the Downtown Development Review Board in September 2021 show the town houses will feature a shotgun-style design with gabled roofs.
Johnson Commons representatives said the design is inspired by LaVilla’s architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the neighborhood was thriving.
“To get to this point, it’s just very fulfilling,” Leone said. “Especially to be a part of what’s going on in LaVilla. LaVilla is on a great trajectory.”
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