Downtown Development Update Part II: Cranes up, work in sight

More than a dozen projects are under construction or recently completed in Downtown Jacksonville. Here’s a look at where some of them stand.


  • By Ric Anderson
  • | 12:05 a.m. March 17, 2025
  • | 1 Free Article Remaining!
The One Riverside apartments at 1 Riverside Ave. are being built at the former site of The Florida Times-Union. The project broke project broke ground in 2022.
The One Riverside apartments at 1 Riverside Ave. are being built at the former site of The Florida Times-Union. The project broke project broke ground in 2022.
Photo by Monty Zickuhr
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The effort to revitalize Downtown Jacksonville yielded successes in late 2024 and early 2025 in the form of project completions, new construction starts and progress at worksites on the Northbank and Southbank.

Here is an update on some of Downtown’s public and private projects. Part I of this series is here

The site of a future Whole Foods Market planned for One Riverside.

One Riverside/Whole Foods

Groundwork is underway on the site of the Whole Foods grocery market planned as part of the $250 million mixed-use project under construction by TriBridge and Fuqua Development at 1 Riverside Ave. 

Work continues on the $59.9 million, 225-apartment first phase of the project, with completion expected in September.

McCoys Creek Outfall

The city posts a fall 2025 estimated completion date on work to improve McCoys Creek, which for decades ran beneath the Florida Times-Union building at 1 Riverside Ave.

The current construction, which comes with a cost estimate of $66.9 million, includes “daylighting” the creek by rerouting it into an open-air space between the One Riverside project and railroad tracks, widening and deepening the creek, building a new pedestrian bridge providing access to a future riverfront park and rebuilding the Riverwalk overpass.

 The T-U buildings were demolished.

Corner Lot Development Group plans to renovate the Jones Bros. Furniture Co. building at 520 N. Hogan St.
Photo by Ric Anderson

Jones Bros. Furniture Co.

The city issued permits in December 2024 for the adaptive reuse of the seven-story building at 420 N. Hogan St.

Plans call for a $9 million, 38,836-square-foot build-out of the 110-year-old building, which Corner Lot Development Group has been working to revive since 2018. 

The June is planned in the historic Federal Reserve Building at 424 N. Hogan St. in the Downtown NorthCore.
Photo by Ric Anderson

The June 

Britt Morgan-Saks, founder of The June private club, says the venture has attracted 150 founding members, who are investors.

The city approved permits in February for the $6.4 million build-out of the club in the historic Federal Reserve Building at 424 N. Hogan St. 

Avant Construction Group is renovating the Pratt Funeral Home at 525 W Beaver St. on the edge of LaVilla into an Airbnb and a restaurant.

Pratt Funeral Home

Work is underway to bring the 110-year-old funeral home at 525 W. Beaver St. back to life as an Airbnb and restaurant

 The city issued a permit in November 2023 for the adaptive reuse.

City Council approved a $1.25 million forgivable loan for the project in May 2023. 

The Rise Doro apartment building is under construction March 10 in the Sports and Entertainment District. The apartments are being rebuilt after being destroyed in the fire in January 2024. The parking garage at the center of the building is being reused.
Photo by Monty Zickuhr

Rise Doro

Work began anew on the apartment building at 960 E. Adams St. in early 2025, about a year after the structure was heavily damaged by fire.

In September 2024, the Jacksonville City Council approved a $15.45 million incentives package to rebuild the complex, which comprises five floors of wood-frame construction built atop a two-story concrete base and around a seven-story concrete parking garage.

The wood portions of the building were ordered demolished after the fire, and the concrete was deemed structurally sound.

Adams Street and Forsyth Street in Downtown Jacksonville are being converted to two-way traffic.

Two-way street restorations

Resurfacing and striping began in February on a project to restore two-way traffic to Forsyth and Adams streets between Jefferson and Liberty streets.

The $4.6 million first phase of the project will include closures of one lane of each street for 60 days, followed by closure of the other lane for the same duration.

The work is designed to slow traffic, make the streets safer for walking, and foster development of street-level dining and retail. 

St. Johns River Park is under construction March 10 adjacent to Friendship Fountain on the Downtown Jacksonville Southbank.a
Photo by Monty Zickuhr

St. Johns River Park 

Construction is underway on the $10.4 million park adjacent to Friendship Fountain.

A centerpiece ship-shaped piece of play equipment has been installed for the history-themed play park.

Other features will include a wedding venue, picnic areas and interpretive gardens. 

Completion is estimated in early 2026.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority Autonomous Innovation Center is under construction March 10 on 1.28 acres near Broad and Water streets in LaVilla.
Photo by Monty Zickuhr

Autonomous Innovation Center/U2C

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority has begun testing autonomous vans for its Ultimate Urban Circulator along the system’s Bay Street Innovation Corridor. 

Work is progressing on the control center for the system, the Autonomous Innovation Center at 650 W. Bay St. in LaVilla. Including the $40.5 million building, the U2C’s costs are estimated at up to $400 million.

Dorothy’s Downtown is taking the former Downtown Burrito Gallery space at 21 E. Adams St.

Restaurant update

• The city issued a permit in March for Dorothy’s Downtown, a Southern and Creole restaurant proposed in the space of the former Burrito Gallery at 21 E. Adams St. 

• In November 2024, Indigo Road Hospitality Group announced plans to open Oak Steakhouse on the ground floor of the Greenleaf & Crosby Building at 204 N. Laura St. in the space previously occupied by Jacobs Jewelers. 

• In February, Players Grille opened its Brooklyn location on the ground floor of the Home2 Suites by Hilton Jacksonville Downtown, 600 Park St. 

• The Prudential Club restaurant and lounge states on its website that it is opening soon at 1430 Prudential Drive, where an incorporated liquor store has already opened. 

Lily Grabb, the owner of Lily’s Asian-American Food is at 11 E. Forsyth St., says her menu is based on her mother’s recipes.
Photo by Dan Macdonald

Lily’s Asian-American Food opened in February at 11 E. Forsyth St., former home of Super Food & Brew. 

•  The locally owned Vantage Point Coffee shop opened in a 900-square-foot space of the Union Terminal Warehouse. 

 

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