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Business Brief: As Big Development Looms, Small Projects 'Finally' Take Off Downtown

exterior of 215 N. Laura St.
Jacksonville Daily Record
The planned redevelopment is adjacent to Chamblin’s Uptown at 215 N. Laura St.";

A handful of development projects in downtown Jacksonville were approved this week.

They include apartments next to Chamblin’s Uptown on Laura Street and plans for a grocery store in the former Lee & Cates Glass building in LaVilla.

As Jacksonville Daily Record reporter David Cawton said, these infill projects—that’s planner speak for development that fills in around existing structures—are getting green lights at the same time the Barnett Bank redevelopment is set to wrap up near the corner of Laura and Forsyth streets.

“There’s some of this infill that we’ve been waiting for and we’ve needed for so long downtown, starting to finally happen,” Cawton said.

That means existing businesses along the corridor should have many more customers in the not too distant future.

“It’s going to be quite a spot downtown in about 18 months,” he said.

Contact Jessica Palombo at 904-358-6315, jpalombo@wjct.org or on Twitter at @JessicaPubRadio.

Jessica Palombo supervises local news gathering and production, podcasts and web editorial content for WJCT News, ADAPT and Jacksonville Today. She is an award-winning writer and journalist with bylines including NPR, Experience Magazine, and The Gainesville Sun. She has a master’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism from Syracuse University and is an alumna of the University of Florida. A nearly lifelong resident of Jacksonville, she considers herself lucky to be raising her own children in her hometown. Follow Jessica Palombo on Twitter: @JaxJessicaP