JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The longstanding Sulzbacher Center in Downtown Jacksonville is moving to a new location, Sulzbacher CEO Cindy Funkhouser told First Coast News during a meeting with downtown and community stakeholders Wednesday morning.
The Sulzbacher Center opened its doors downtown in December 1995, according to the organization's website.
Funkhouser says the center will be moved to a "huge job-training facility with Goodwill and FSCJ" at Interstate 95 and Golfair Boulevard. Relocation of the center is considered to be phase two of Sulzbacher's broader plans, according to Funkhouser.
Along with the announcement of the services for homelessness people in the city moving, Funkhouser mentioned affordable housing will be built as well as a manufacturing plant.
The CEO says about two years ago, Sulzbacher purchased 17.5 acres of land at I-95 and Golfair. Building 100 units of affordable housing there is considered to be "phase one" of Sulzbacher's plans, according to Funkhouser. She said funding for it has already been completed, as city council voted on and approved $16 million to be put into the planned 'Sulzbacher Enterprise Village' in April.
"We should be breaking ground on a hundred units of studio, one bedrooms in the fall," Funkhouser said. "That location would also have 80 units of emergency housing, so it would take place of everything that we're currently doing downtown."
Funkhouser further stated that Sulzbacher's "phase three" within the plan is to "employ people that are getting their job training through Goodwill and FSCJ" at the manufacturing plant.
"Best case scenario, we break ground on phase two and potentially [phase] three in 2025," Funkhouser said.
With the move of several services going to a different part of town, the population of those who are homeless downtown should see a natural decrease, especially with Funkhouser saying a shuttle bus will "constantly" be picking people up and taking them to the new location.
"We're just really excited about this," Funkhouser told First Coast News. "The community at large is going to hear a lot about this as we move along."
"This is a big step for Jacksonville overall," Michael Munz, coach of the capital campaign for Sulzbacher, added. "We know that Sulzbacher does great things with all the wrap around services, but this is really taking it to the next level, and I think it's so exciting to following the steps with what happened to Sulzbacher Village."