Nearly a year after the Rise Doro apartments were heavily damaged by fire, a report from Florida’s Division of State Fire Marshal states that the cause of the blaze cannot be determined.
The 166-page report, the culmination of an investigation by the state department, says portions of the building where the fire may have started were either destroyed by flames or had been destabilized by fire or water damage and were not accessible to investigators.
The report states there was “no conclusive evidence to indicate a specific cause of the fire.”
It says the fire was most likely sparked by “irregular electrical activity” but concludes that the cause be classified as undetermined.
On Jan. 28, 2024, days before move-ins were scheduled to begin at the $65 million building at 960 Adams St. in Downtown Jacksonville, fire broke out on the sixth floor. Firefighters attempted to enter the building to battle the blaze from the interior but were impeded by obstacles such as uncompleted stairwells. They poured water into the building from ladder trucks, but it burned for more than 24 hours.
After it was extinguished, the city ordered wood-framed portions of the building demolished out of concern that they could collapse and damage adjacent structures.
The building comprised five stories of wood framing built on a two-story concrete pedestal and wrapped around a concrete parking garage. It was later determined that the concrete portions were structurally sound and could remain.
Mayor Donna Deegan called the fire a setback for Jacksonville’s Downtown revitalization effort. Rise Doro was the first residential development in the Sports and Entertainment District near EverBank Stadium.
In September 2024, Jacksonville City Council approved a $15.45 million incentive package to rebuild the apartments. That amount was nearly three times more than the $5.75 million in incentives the city approved in 2020 for the project.
City officials cited increased construction costs as the reason for the higher incentives.
According to Downtown Investment Authority records, the rebuilt project will include 247 residential units and 7,400 square feet of retail space. Rise intends to incorporate 85 units of workforce housing, where before all the units were to be leased at market rate.
With the inclusion of workforce housing, the city approved a $3 million workforce housing completion grant as part of the new incentive package.
The parking garage structure will provide 300 spaces and be topped by a rooftop swimming pool and fitness center. There will be 4,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space, which will be open to the public during normal business hours.
The DIA reported that the rebuilt 360,000-square-foot structure will include 15 954-square-foot one-bedroom town home units, 173 one-bedroom units of 625-750 square feet and 61 two-bedroom units of 1,025 square feet. The 85 workforce units will be restricted to tenants making up to 120% of the area median income.
Greg Blais, president of the Rise real estate company, told Daily Record news partner Jacksonville Today on Jan. 6 that Rise closed on financing recently and would begin construction within two weeks.
“Obviously, we would have liked to learn the cause of the fire, but I am not in a position to speculate on the cause and will live with the comments in the report just like everyone else,” he told Jacksonville Today.