JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Construction on Gateway Jax’s first development project in downtown Jacksonville is set to begin in October.
Gateway Jax, a Jacksonville-based commercial real estate development firm sponsored by JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital, announced last year a $500 million mixed-use development project in downtown that includes apartments, grocery and retail spaces.
“We’ve been looking at this late summer, early fall timeline to start,” said Bryan Moll, CEO of Gateway Jax. “We’re pretty thrilled that we’re going to be there. It’s very close to where we’d hoped to start.”
Gateway Jax recently received unanimous approval from the Jacksonville City Council for a redevelopment and incentive package for its Pearl Street District project, paving the way for construction to start.
Gateway Jax will first break ground on Block N11 of the Pearl Street District, which is at the intersection of Pearl, Julie, Ashley and Church streets, Moll said.
“It’s monumental for the project,” Moll said. “Very candidly, we would not have been able to do the project without those approvals and the incentives that were part of it.”
The legislation authorizes the Downtown Investment Authority to execute redevelopment agreements with the City of Jacksonville and Gateway Jax for four planned blocks of the Pearl Street District and approves an incentive package totaling $98.5 million. This includes $59.6 million in Recapture Enhanced Value (REV) grants over 17 years and $38.9 million in completion grants, which are not paid until the projects are complete and on the city’s tax rolls.
“We are eager to see this transformational project break ground in the fall,” said Lori Boyer, DIA’s chief executive officer, in a news release from Gateway Jax.
This mixed-use building is expected to include a grocery store, for which Moll said the group already received a letter of intent. He said he hopes to be able to announce the official lease in as little as six months.
The building should have about 22,000 square feet of total retail space and be “comprised of mostly restaurants.”
“We have been talking to a lot of groups about those spaces but are waiting to sign leases until those larger ones are finalized,” Moll said.
Other blocks of the district are expected to begin not long after N11, with the next one being a 22-story high-rise, for which Moll added they are in “advanced lease negotiations” for a full-service health club.
The first completed building is expected to be finished in 2026, with the next one sometime in 2027.
The two properties make up about 10 acres of development property of Gateway Jax’s total of 28 acres.
After those two projects will be another seven-story building and garage renovations.
Gateway Jax has acquired real estate holdings that span 25 blocks in Downtown Jacksonville, and the company plans to put about $2 billion in private development investment into the city over the next decade.
The Pearl Street District is Gateway Jax’s first development in Downtown Jacksonville. Its mixed-use plan is set to deliver more than 1,000 new residential units; 100,000 square feet of leasable retail space; and new public spaces, including widened and shaded sidewalks, park spaces and a curbless festival street on Pearl Street with abundant outdoor dining.
Gateway Jax has estimated the whole development will add $750 million in annual economic impact once it’s completed. “It’s all part of this momentum,” Moll said. “There will be continuous momentum as we get all these buildings going every few months. There’s been, by large, a feeling that downtown has been waiting for a big moment [and an investment] like this.”
This story was first published by the Florida Times-Union.
