Jacksonville is in a multifamily residential construction boom and developers are making sure Downtown is adding to the city’s inventory.
While some of Downtown’s residential stock is designated for older adult and workforce housing, the majority of the inventory is market rate, with finishes and amenities designed to appeal to young professionals.
The availability of high-end housing a short walk from home to office can be a recruiting tool for Downtown-based companies in the business, financial, legal and tech sectors.
Downtown Vision Inc. found that people who live Downtown are well educated and make above-average annual salaries.
Nearly 65% have a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree. More than half, 56.3%, make $60,000 or more per year. Another 14.1% earn $40,000 to $59,999 per year, at or just above the area median income.
At Downtown’s newest apartment community, the 185-unit Southerly at Southbank, the first residents moved in Jan. 15.
It is new construction on the Southbank of the St. Johns River.
Repurposing buildings that were vacant for decades is another trend in Downtown residential growth, such as Elena Flats, the four-unit historic restoration that opened in 2021 in the Cathedral District.
According to data from Downtown Vision, from 1967, when Cathedral Residences opened, through 2008, there were 2,029 apartments and condominium units that opened Downtown.
Multifamily development in the urban core then stopped for seven years.
Since two apartment communities opened in Brooklyn along Riverside Avenue in 2015, Downtown’s inventory has more than doubled to 4,978 multifamily units.
Downtown Vision data indicates 97.5% average occupancy.
An additional 2,835 units are under construction or approved for development.
That totals 7,813 units, more than triple the 2014 inventory.
The recent migration to Florida and Jacksonville from other states is helping drive the Downtown residential market, based on visits to the newest apartment community’s website.
“We are getting a lot of traffic from the Northeast – New York, Connecticut, Maine and Pennsylvania,” said Jeremy Baldwin, spokesman for Southerly at Southbank.
