JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Businesses surrounding the RISE Doro apartment building are blocked off and closed as firefighters continue to battle flames there Monday after the building caught fire Sunday night.
David Cohen, president and co-founder of Manifest Distilling, says he doesn't know how long his business could be closed. He walked through his building with emergency officials Monday.
"We were able to peak in there briefly for a minute and thankfully everything looked okay," Cohen said.
Cohen says the fire "feels like a blow" to the progress of this part of the city and activating nightlife.
"We've been dealing with construction for the past two and a half years," he said. "And we were, what, weeks away from having neighbors and a little bit of a street life out there and so it's tough."
People at other downtown businesses also say it's a hit.
The RISE Doro apartments were supposed to open next month and had nearly 250 units. Workers along Bay Street say they were just weeks away from getting the first of what could have been hundreds of more customers.
“It’d be nice to bring those residents over to come hang out down here or at least over here on the elbow and everything with Spliff’s and Underbelly and all that,” said Sean Gibson with Bold City Brewing.
Lori Boyer, CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority, says the RISE Doro apartments were a "pioneer" project for the sports and entertainment area.
"It's certainly tragic and it's really disappointing," Boyer said. "I've been saying that we have 1,000 units under construction. Well that's 250 of them."
Boyer says it's important to note there are other downtown apartments in the works, such as in Riverside, but this one was unique because of its location in the sports area.
First Coast News also talked with several people planning to move into the apartments and now have to hurry to find new places to live. One person said they work from home and now must also find a new place to get work done.