Farewell, 2023
The champagne has been popped and the confetti has fallen to ring in 2024. However, the celebration isn’t only for the new year to come, but also for the year now behind us. Our Resident community and Jacksonville as a whole have seen so much growth and change these last 12 months and we at The Resident News wanted to take a moment to acknowledge some of the highlights and achievements from 2023 before we close that chapter and move into the next.
What happened in…
JANUARY
The Jacksonville City Council passed an emergency bill prohibiting messages from being projected onto a building without owner approval or consent following the appearance of a cross and swastika projected across the CSX building on Jan. 14. Perpetrators projecting any message, regardless of its content, onto a building without owner consent or approval could be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $2,000 fine and up to 60 days of jail time.
FEBRUARY
Riverfront 2025: A Look Ahead shared plans for several parks near or along the riverfront, including Artist Walk, Music Heritage Garden, Riverfront Plaza, St. Johns River Park/Friendship Fountain, Northwest Park and RiversEdge Parks. According to the Riverfront 2025 presentation, plans were still needed for Metropolitan Park, Shipyards West Park, the Ford on Bay public space, the Old City Hall Annex and McCoys Creek Park.
MARCH
After the adaptive reuse of the historic Independent Life Building was granted final approval by the Downtown Development Review Board in 2020, permits were filed in March with the City to begin the work of converting this 68-year-old building into a mixed-use development featuring 135 residential units on floors two through 16; the basement and first level will host a grocery store, restaurant and commercial tenants while an amenity deck, commercial kitchen and a “Sky Lounge” will call the 17th, 18th and top levels home, respectively.
APRIL
Jacksonville’s Downtown Development Review Board granted unanimous conceptual approval of Block Nine, a mixed-use development intended for the Brooklyn community. This development by the Trevato Development Group will fill the entire block bordered by Jackson, Stonewall, Park and Chelsea streets and feature 293 multi-family units and 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail space with an additional 5,000 square feet of “co-working space.” Construction is anticipated to begin in 2025 at a cost in “the $100 million range.”
MAY
Groundbreaking on San Marco’s long-awaited Lasalle Street pump station took place on May 17 with city officials and representatives from Haskell and A&E Engineering; construction timeline is anticipated to be 18 months. (Later, in September, The Resident News reported that Phase 1 of construction is expected to wrap at the end of 2024; Phase 2 was, at the time, under design with an anticipated end date of spring 2026).
JUNE
Riverside saw construction underway for a new medical office building at 1232 King St. for incoming Women’s Care Florida in the former SouthState Bank branch located on the site. A smaller SouthState branch has been constructed and completed on the corner lot at 1210 King Street. A King Street [Medical Office Building] Neighbor Meeting agenda placed the estimated completion date for this project in December 2023.
JULY
Restauranteurs and business owners along Hendricks Avenue in San Marco used social media to launch and promote what has become known as the Hendricks Avenue Corridor to raise visibility for the shops, boutiques and restaurants located along the street. With a combination of new ventures and seasoned storefronts, Hendricks Avenue is becoming another popular area of the San Marco community where guests and residents can dine, shop and live.
AUGUST
New tenants for the shuttered San Marco Theatre shared plans to convert the interior space into a restaurant and home décor store. Restauranteur Al Mansur will be converting the bulk of the theater space in the Flying Iguana Taqueria and Tequila Bar while the remaining space will become a new location for Missy Riley Arts & Pieces, which is currently located just a few doors down on San Marco Boulevard. The new Flying Iguana restaurant is expected to open the first quarter of 2024 while Missy Riley plans to move into her new storefront as soon as the buildout is complete.
SEPTEMBER
On Sept. 19, the Land, Use and Zoning (LUZ) Committee approved the amended Planned Unit Development (PUD) rezoning request for The Local’s proposed third location on Oak Street. Discussions and plans for a new restaurant at this location – the now-condemned site of the Deluxe Laundry and Dry Cleaners and Deluxe Launderette – date back to 2016 when the original PUD was first approved, originally for The Roost restaurant concept. The amended PUD was later approved by the city council at its Nov. 14 meeting.
OCTOBER
After years of planning, the Jacksonville Historical Society (JHS) broke ground on Phase 1 of the new Jacksonville History Center, which will be housed, fittingly, in a historic building. The 103-year-old Florida Casket Company building is located next door to the JHS headquarters and will undergo extensive renovations to prepare for the three-story center, consisting of a ground-floor museum space, a second-floor special events area and a third-story archives and research space. Phase 1 is expected to be complete this spring.
NOVEMBER
The Jacksonville Armada Football Club shared renderings of the new soccer stadium coming to Jacksonville’s Eastside. The new stadium will be a mixed-use development, featuring 25,000 square feet of “coworking space.” Jacksonville Armada Football Club Owner Robert Palmer said this will help address the challenges a soccer stadium faces regarding the days and nights it goes unused. In a November announcement of the new stadium, Palmer stated construction is expected to break ground this month.
DECEMBER
Jacksonville closed out the year with a series of charity events, galas and fundraisers, supporting several causes near and dear to its residents and communities. These events included Hope for the Holidays (Jim and Tabitha Furyk Foundation), the 10th annual Heroes Gala (Operation New Uniform), Steven Cade’s Giving Guitar Tour stop at the City Rescue Mission, Gala Night “Under the Stars” (First United Methodist Church Jacksonville with Pillars Plus Foundation), and more.
By Michele Leivas
Resident Community News
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