Downtown Vision, Inc. Releases the 2020-2021 State of Downtown Report

Jacksonville, FL (September 27, 2020) – Downtown Vision, Inc., Downtown Jacksonville’s Business Improvement District non-profit, today released their newest study of the growth of Downtown Jacksonville. Using more than a dozen sources, Downtown Vision tracked and analyzed many key Downtown indicators over an 18-month period—from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021—such as: development and investment, residential demand, office market and employment base, transportation expansions and tourism health. Highlights include:

Visitors are returning to Downtown.

• The first two quarters of 2021 had 70% of the visit traffic as the same period as in 2019, prior to COVID-19.
• Despite COVID-19, new retail is opening Downtown, such as: Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi, Bread & Board Provisions, The Bread & Burger, Crazy Bean Coffee, Estrella Cocina, Ruby Beach Brewing and Underbelly.
• Downtown hotel occupancy is at 72%, matching pre-COVID rates in January 2020.
• A 135-room Residence Inn by Marriott is currently under construction in Brooklyn, and more than 500 rooms are in review with the City at hotel flags such as TRYP by Wyndham, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Marriott Bonvoy Autograph Collection and the Four Seasons.

Downtown residents have increased 40% in five years to nearly 7,000.

• The average occupancy for multi-family residential is 97.5%, up from 94% in the previous year.
• Five hundred and fifty-two units in three residential projects are under construction—Ashley Square Apartments in the Cathedral District, The Doro in the Sports & Entertainment District, and The Southerly on the Southbank—and more than 1,800 units are in review with the City. Once these more than 2,300 units come online, we can expect to have more than 12,000 residents Downtown.
• Residents cite city living/atmosphere, proximity to work and walkability as top reasons they enjoy living Downtown.

More than half of Downtown’s office market inventory is Class A space.

• Though Downtown makes up less than 1% of Jacksonville by area, 30% of Jacksonville’s office market inventory is located Downtown.
• New FIS and JEA headquarters are under construction, adding 539,000 square feet of inventory.
• While the full impact of COVID-19 is still to be determined, Downtown and the suburbs are seeing similar office trends. Office occupancy has increased to 19.7% vs. 19% in the suburbs. The average lease rate is holding steady at $22.41 vs. $21.32 in the suburbs.
• Employees cite restaurants, entertainment, events and walkability as top reasons they enjoy working Downtown.

The surge in public-private investment in Downtown continues with nearly $5 billion in major projects in the pipeline. 

• Over $200 million in projects have been completed since the beginning of 2020 including the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center, Vista Brooklyn and VyStar Credit Union headquarters.
• Nearly $2 billion in projects are currently under construction including the transformational, mixed-use RiversEdge: Life on the St. Johns and Emerald Trail model-mile.
• Significant adaptive reuse projects, such as the Laura Street Trio, Florida Baptist Convention and Federal Reserve Bank buildings, Ambassador Hotel and the Independent Life Building, are in review with the City.
• The DIA invested approximately $70 million to leverage more than $400 million in private capital investment and new construction.

"Despite the challenging last few years, investors are targeting Downtown Jacksonville more than ever before,” said Jake Gordon, CEO of Downtown Vision. “Catalyzed by our elected officials at the City of Jacksonville, the Downtown Investment Authority and a supportive business climate, investment and development in Downtown are surging. As we continue to recover, Downtown is poised for even more success, making Jacksonville an even better city and supporting our whole region. A better Downtown helps all of Jacksonville.”
 
View and download the 2020-2021 State of Downtown Report at dtjax.com/reports.