Featured News

Here's a look at the progress of some of the developments ongoing in Downtown Jacksonville.

Gateway Jax Pearl Square

Publix and the partnership behind the Gateway Jax multiproperty development announced in early September that the grocer would open a 31,000-square-foot store in ground-floor space in Gateway’s Block N7 mixed-use development at 119 W. Beaver St. 

Publix will lease space in the building for a full-service store that will include a pharmacy, they said.

The building is the former main auditorium of First Baptist Church. Gateway plans to raze it and build a 15-story residential tower with about 250 apartments and integrated parking with 400 spaces. 

Photo by Ric Anderson

It is part of Pearl Square, Gateway’s $750 million development in the NorthCore area of Downtown. 

In December 2024, the Downtown Investment Authority board endorsed a $2.1 million incentive package aimed at incorporating a grocery store into the Block N7 project. 

In May 2025, Gateway broke ground on its second structure, a mixed-use building at 425 Beaver St. designed to include 286 multifamily units, nearly 20,000 square feet of retail space and on-site parking. 

Photo by Ric Anderson

It is northwest of Gateway’s first construction site, 515 Pearl St., where construction continues after commencing in October 2024. 

City Council approved a $14.1 million Recapture Enhanced Value Grant and a $6.84 million completion grant for 425 Beaver St. and a $9.06 million REV grant and $4.63 million completion grant for 515 Pearl St.

Old JEA headquarters

On Sept. 12, city-owned utility JEA selected a $1 million bid from Jacksonville-based Live Oak Contracting LLC to buy the former JEA headquarters building and transform it into a mixed-use development. 

The purchase, which is pending approval by the JEA board, includes the 19-story office tower at 21 W. Church St. along with adjacent properties. Live Oak’s bid was selected over one from Jacksonville Beach-based Simple State Inc., which offered no money for the building but also submitted plans to convert it to residential and retail uses.

Live Oak’s plans include 180 residential units, rooftop amenities, office space and ground-floor uses.

In 2023, JEA moved from the old headquarters into its seven-story structure at 225 N. Pearl St., which it leases. 

City of Jacksonville

Two-way street restoration

July brought the completion of work to convert portions of Forsyth and Adams streets to two-way traffic, as they were originally configured before being made one-way in the mid-20th century. 

Work involved installing traffic lights and signage, striping the streets and adding tree planter boxes and protected areas for streetside dining. 

Work began in April 2024 on the $4.6 million restoration project. Proponents of two-way conversions say the reconfigurations reduce traffic speed and foster safer mobility for pedestrians and bicyclists, improving the livability of urban environments and promoting patronage of street-level retail stores and restaurants. 

Photo by Ric Anderson

Riverfront Plaza

The city’s I Dig Jax website,  jacksonville.gov/idigjax, says the first phase of the Riverfront Plaza park will open to the public in early 2026. The $38 million initial phase includes a playground on top of a pavilion building, an event lawn, new bulkhead, improved Riverwalk and plaza space connecting to the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts.

Work is nearing completion on the pavilion building, which will include a small café space, restrooms, mechanical rooms and storage space to support the park. Among other improvements, work has begun on a splash pad. 

Construction of the second phase is expected to begin by the end of 2025. It will include a beer garden and rain garden, plus a bicycle and pedestrian connection to the Main Street Bridge. 

Photo by Ric Anderson

Four Seasons Hotel & Residences

As the 10-story luxury hotel moves toward targeted completion in 2026, demolition work is poised to start at the adjacent Jacksonville Shipyards marina after the issuance of a city permit in early September. 

The $2 million marina project involves demolition of existing structures and replacement of the dock. 

The rebuilt marina, which is being funded by the city and built by Four Seasons developer Iguana Investments, is designed to include  78 slips for vessels 30 to 400 feet in length. There will be two water taxi slips.

Photo by Ric Anderson

‘Stadium of the Future’ transformation of EverBank

The transformation of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ home field into the “Stadium of the Future” advanced Sept. 11 with the issuance of the biggest permit yet for the project.

The city issued the “SOTF Stadium of the Future – IFC 3 Permit” at a project cost of $532.14 million. It involves bowl seating removal, electrical work, interior demolition, plumbing, mechanical infrastructure and more. The Jaguars are now opening the final – and largest – bid package.

The team says the work will not affect Jaguars home games this year. The $1.4 billion stadium project is planned for completion before the start of the 2028 NFL season. 

Photo by Ric Anderson

One Shipyards Place

Scott Wilson, capital projects manager for the Downtown Investment Authority, reported to the DIA board on Sept. 17 that the six-story One Shipyards Place had been dried in, meaning windows, doors, the roof and exterior walls were completed. The Jaguars will move its team headquarters to the building, where Wilson said power has been fully connected and HVAC is operating. Iguana Investments, real estate development arm of Jaguars owner Shad Khan, is building the structure.

Completion is expected in the first quarter of 2026.

The cost for the vertical construction of the office building and adjacent hotel totals $254.3 million, growing to almost $260 million with a marina support building on the grounds.

Photo by Ric Anderson

Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation (NAVI)

In June 2025, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority launched its autonomous passenger service along the three-mile Bay Street Innovation Corridor. 

The service is offered in converted Ford vans, with human attendants at the wheel in the opening months of the rollout.

The Bay Street Innovation Corridor route cost $65 million and comprises $39.5 million in local, $13 million in state and $12.5 million in federal funding.

It is part of the Ultimate Urban Circulator, a proposed $400 million-plus system that would expand throughout Downtown and connect to surrounding neighborhoods. 

JTA reported in mid-August that the NAVI service was drawing 100 to 195 riders per day. It is initially being offered at no charge, with plans to institute a $1.75 per-passenger fee beginning Oct. 1.

Photo by Monty Zickuhr

One Riverside

Whole Foods Market, Solidcore fitness studio and a Japanese restaurant are planned for the mixed-use development under construction at 1 Riverside Ave. in Brooklyn on the Northbank.

The city issued a permit Sept. 10 for build-out of the 38,300-square-foot Building 1000 store for the grocer at a project cost of $7.5 million.

The city issued a permit Aug. 4 for build-out of 2,104 square feet in Building 2000 for the fitness studio at $300,000.

The operator of the Norikase Japanese restaurant in Tinseltown and Beachside Seafood in Jacksonville Beach said it plans to expand there.

Pearl Hospitality Group signed a lease to operate Norikawa in space on the riverfront with a patio along the Riverwalk. It will comprise 4,500 square feet of interior space with an additional 2,000 square feet of patio dining area. 

By Ric Anderson, Reporter
Jax Daily Record

As part of its efforts to add more commercial activity downtown, the city is looking to lease space on the ground floor of the Ed Ball Building.

The city-owned building at 214 N. Hogan St. has a Quizno's and The Brick Coffee House, but the rest of the ground level retail space is quiet.

This is something the city hopes to change to not only build off the catalytic movement already underway in downtown, but also to activate Hogan Street retail space as the Emerald Trail will run through the main thoroughfare.

Signs have been installed on windows of corner space in the building along Hogan and Adams streets, advertising space for lease.

The corner space is approximately 1,582 square feet and could be either retail or food and beverage.

Activating space in the government building follows the Downtown Investment Authority's business investment and development plan.

“Leasing the retail space in the Ed Ball Building advances BID plan goal number three by increasing and diversifying downtown’s food, beverage and retail options," DIA CEO Colin Tarbert said in a statement to the Business Journal. "Activating this corner of Hogan and Adams supports our mission to create a more vibrant, walkable downtown and complements the Emerald Trail.”

This space joins one adjacent to the Quizno's, the former site of Knotts & Co. Jewelers, which the city has listed as well. This space has approximately 1,200 square feet, including 456 square feet of either office, storage or kitchen space.

Both spots could be eligible for DIA incentives like those for retail enhancement and stand-alone sidewalk cafes.

By Leah Foreman, Commercial Real Estate Reporter
Jacksonville Business Journal

A University of Florida Board of Trustees committee selected the area around the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center as the site for the university’s planned graduate center campus in Jacksonville.

The Committee on Governance, Government Relations and Internal Affairs voted unanimously Dec. 12 to select the site and delegate authority to the university president and board chair to negotiate an agreement to convey the property.

The full board will vote on the matter Dec. 13.

A presentation to the committee included renderings and conceptual site plans showing UF buildings immediately north of the Union Terminal Station and west to the Forsyth Street exit of Interstate 95.

Includes Florida Semiconductor Institute

A news release from the city of Jacksonville said the campus is expected to open in fall 2026 and would include the Florida Semiconductor Institute.

The release said graduate degree offerings were being finalized, but areas under consideration include business management; data analytics; computer science with concentrations in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity; law; and biomedical and health sciences.

UF says enrollment at the fully built-out campus could reach 20,000 or more.
 

Mayor Donna Deegan plans to work with the Downtown Investment Authority and City Council to provide 22 acres, the release said. With the Florida Semiconductor Institute as part of the campus, the administration will propose $50 million in city funding for the project on top of $50 million committed by City Council in the spring of 2023.

In a question-and-answer session at City Hall with reporters after the committee’s vote, Deegan said the initial conveyance would involve two vacant city-owned properties next to the convention center.

Additional properties

Deegan said UF was working to secure a property other than those two, possibly an existing building, where it would begin offering classes in the fall of 2026.

UF had negotiated with JEA for a short-term lease of space on the fifth floor of the municipal utility’s headquarters building at 225 N. Pearl St., but a JEA spokeswoman said a deal had not been reached. 

UF announced nearly two years ago that it planned to open a graduate school focusing on health and financial technology in Downtown Jacksonville.

Since then, $250 million in funding has been committed to the project, comprising $150 million from the state of Florida, the $50 million from the city of Jacksonville and $50 million from private donors.

Deegan said the campus would be “another monumental step towards Jacksonville being a national leader in the industries that will shape our collective future.”

Mori Hosseini, chair of the UF Board of Trustees, said: “Our goal is to create a national center of excellence and to bring our bright students to this forward-thinking city. We are grateful for our strong partnerships with the state, city, and community leaders – we are going to do big things together.”

Jacksonville 'on the forefront of innovation'

UF interim President Kent Fuchs said, “Jacksonville – like UF – is on the forefront of innovation.”

“This is a place where our students will create great change and help transform the industries of the future,” he said.

The property near the convention center was among three that had been publicly identified as sites being considered by UF, including the soon-to-be vacated Jacksonville Fairgrounds and land near the Florida State College at Jacksonville Downtown campus. 
 

Deegan recommended the convention center site in a Dec. 5 letter to Fuchs and Hosseini. In the letter, she said the city would work with the university on terms of conveyance “so that design, planning, and construction can begin as quickly as possible in 2025.”

The Daily Record has requested details on the parcels under consideration from the city. 

During the committee meeting, Hosseini commended Deegan, Council members and Jacksonville business development officials for driving the project forward.

“The leaders of Jacksonville kept on pushing us, (saying), ‘Come on, let’s go,’” he said. “That’s so admirable. We all think governments are slow and never move. But they did an impressive job.”

Why LaVilla

Kurt Dudas, UF vice president for strategic initiatives, told committee members that the president’s office recommended the Prime Osborn site based partly on its proximity to interstates 10 and 95 and to businesses in Brooklyn and the Downtown core. 

Other reasons included the nearby availability of public transportation out of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s headquarters, and the presence of public amenities such as Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park and the Emerald Trail Model Mile. 

David Norton, UF vice president for research, said locating the Florida Semiconductor Institute in Jacksonville offered an opportunity for it to become a “world-class research facility” specializing in national security. Florida lawmakers approved $80 million for the institute this year. 
 

“The accessibility of Jacksonville with direct flights into Washington, D.C., make it much more attractive for us to really build-out something new that will be competitive to what other universities across the country have already built-out in the area of national security,” he said. 

Prompted by a question from Hosseini, Norton indicated the institute’s economic impact could eventually be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Jaguars reaction

The Jacksonville Jaguars issued a statement calling the committee’s vote “a moment of celebration” for team owner Shad Khan and his family. The Khan family donated $5 million toward landing the campus and had offered the 14.1-acre Fairgrounds property, which in 2022 it agreed to purchase.

“Growing Downtown Jacksonville to be a versatile center for commerce, education, entertainment and lifestyle is a priority for the Jacksonville Jaguars,” the statement read. 

“With today’s news from the University of Florida on the location of their graduate studies campus and Florida Semiconductor Institute, our downtown is one step closer to that reality.”

Demolition in future

Deegan said that eventually the newer portions of the convention center, not including the historic train station, could be demolished to make way for the campus. 

However, she told reporters that plans involving the demolition would be years away, allowing time for the city to develop a new convention center. likely at a site near the current Duval County jail. 

“In terms of the convention center itself, that is probably 10 years down the road,” she said.

“You’ll have another mayor to beat up on, probably, by that time.” 

Conveying properties

Deegan said the city’s timeline called for the Downtown Investment Authority to vote in January 2025  on conveying the initial two properties. 

The city said the DIA vote would be on six parcels, five of which make up one of the lots.

The properties involved in the DIA vote in January are a grass parking lot directly north of the train station and an adjacent paved parking lot to the east, across Park Street.

Five properties comprise the block of Bay, Forsyth and Lee streets and LaVilla Center North totaling 1.33 acres.

The sixth property is 2.26 acres next to the east at Bay, Forsyth and Lee streets

“At the end of the day, a lot of space that we’ve had sitting around doing nothing and providing no tax benefit to the city is going to be a vibrant part of our Downtown,” she said. 

In March 2024, the State University System Board of Governors approved UF’s plan to establish the school. 

UF followed up by negotiating with JEA for a short-term lease of space on the fifth floor of the municipal utility’s headquarters building at 225 N. Pearl St. 

A JEA spokeswoman said Dec. 11 that no agreement had been reached. 

The UF colleges participating in the establishment of the facility include the Warrington College of Business; the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering; the College of Medicine; the College of Public Health and Health Professions; the Levin College of Law; and the College of Design, Construction and Planning.

Plans unveiled in 2023

Plans for UF to establish the school in Jacksonville were unveiled in February 2023, long enough ago that two of the principals then are no longer involved. 

Mayor Lenny Curry’s term ended in July 2023 and UF President Ben Sasse resigned in July 2024 after 17 months on the job, the shortest term of any non-interim president in the university’s history. 
 

Hosseini, a strong proponent of the proposed Jacksonville center, also took part in the February 2023 announcement and remains part of the board. 

Sasse, a former Republican U.S. senator from Nebraska, had touted the Jacksonville school as part of his vision to expand the university and turn it into an economic development engine for communities outside of Gainesville.

Sasse’s strategy involved partnering with businesses to apply research to real-world challenges and putting students closer to prospective employers. 

In his resignation, Sasse cited concerns over his wife’s health. 

Later, the Independent Florida Alligator reported that Sasse’s relationship with Hosseini had collapsed and that Sasse had more than tripled his office’s spending during his 17 months as president while directing millions of dollars of university funds into consulting contracts and positions for his political allies.

By Ric Anderson, Reporter
Jacksonville Daily Record