D.R. Horton plans 191 townhomes at 8159 Arlington Expressway, the roundabout west of Arlingwood Avenue not far from Regency Square Mall.
The homebuilder plans to develop the Rivergate project on 14.12 acres where the Expressway Mall was demolished in 2006.
Representing D.R. Horton, Hart Resources LLC applied to the Jacksonville Planning and Development Department for a land use change from community/general commercial and low density residential to medium density residential.
That change will be reviewed by City Council and forwarded to the state for review before it returns to the city for review and adoption by the council.
The application was made with Ordinance 2019-65. A companion rezoning is expected.
Harvest Baptist Church, which changed its name to River City Baptist Church, owns the property. It planned to build a campus on the property but instead purchased the St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church site on Merrill Road.
Dunn & Associates Inc. is the civil engineer.
Site plans indicate buffers of 80 feet to the east and a minimum of 60 feet to the north adjacent to existing single-family homes.
Plans show wetlands preservation between the north side of the property and the homes. The buffer and wetland areas will remain low-density residential.
The buildings are designed around the 446 required parking spaces, which keeps the parking from facing the neighboring homes or the expressway.
A retention pond is on the west side, as the site slopes away from the single-family homes while a recreation area and open space on the northwest corner is separated from the homes by wetlands.
Wetlands and Mill Creek are to the west.
Stores at the Expressway Mall included Publix, Burlington Coat Factory, a movie theater, restaurants, barber shop, Eckerd Drugs and other shops.