JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Southbank development is one step closer to becoming reality after a city review board approved rezoning the project's land on Tuesday, allowing developers to include self-storage units in a proposed multi-use building.
The Jacksonville's Downtown Development Review Board approved recommending rezoning the space during a special meeting Tuesday afternoon.
The Southbank Lofts are proposed for the corner of Prudential Drive and Hendricks Avenue.
Current plans for the 10-story building include ground floor retail and office space, parking space on the second floor, self-storage units from the third to sixth floors and 100 residential units on the seventh to tenth floors.
The application for rezoning states that rezoning the land from Commercial Central Business District to Planned Unit Development will "allow for a building vertically integrated with ground floor retail or office or office, upper floor self-storage and upper floor residential."
This new application comes after city council in June 2023 denied a bill on a rezoning amendment for the Southbank proposal.
Developers say including the self-storage units will create jobs, which is in line with the development plans for the area.
"We believe the project has merit, we believe the project serves the community," said a representative of the project at Tuesday's meeting.
However, some neighbors say the storage units will turn the area into a warehouse district.
They point out that the project is within the Downtown Overlay Zone which, as the land is currently zoned, prohibits self-storage on the Southbank.
Neighbors also say it goes against 2019 development plans for the area, which says in part, new development should increase accessibility and retail opportunities.
"They've decided they want to put four stories of storage on a very prominent corner, we want to uphold and maintain the 2019 overlay for downtown development and we want to deny storage," said Pam Sorenson, a Southbank resident.
The Downtown Development Review Board's recommendation to approve rezoning for the storage units will now go to city council, who will have the final say.