With several Northbank development proposals emerging, SouthEast Development Group has updated its proposed $1.1 billion Riverfront Jacksonville master plan.
Tuesday the Jacksonville developers released another rendering to WJCT News that illustrates part of their vision for Jacksonville’s Downtown Northbank riverfront area.
The latest rendering reimagines two of the buildings in their plan to include 255 market-rate multifamily apartments, along with 45 condominium units for sale.
The buildings that would be constructed along the river near the Main Street Bridge also feature a combined 17,250 square feet of ground-level retail, which the developers said would create more programmed activities in and around the 15 acres of public park and plaza spaces, with resiliency infrastructure in the plans as well.
SouthEast Development Group is led by Steve Atkins and Graham White, the same team that brought the Barnett Tower on Laura Street back to life.
They want the Downtown Investment Authority to invest $536 million of taxpayer money in a public-private partnership that would result in an estimated $559 million worth of private investment into 10 new hotel, multifamily residential, condominium, commercial office, retail and entertainment buildings across more than 20 acres of land, much of which is owned by the city.
SouthEast Development Group released its master plan vision ahead of three separate proposals submitted on June 24 to the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) to redevelop the former Jacksonville Landing site into what is currently envisioned to be primarily public park space.
Unlike the designs proposed for what is currently called Riverfront Plaza, the DIA did not solicit SouthEast Development Group’s input for its master plan, which would encompass a much larger area than just the former Landing site.
“We propose a plan that coordinates and accounts for the needs of all the stakeholders in its vicinity, unlocking this portion of the Northbank’s true potential," SouthEast Development Group said in its original proposal released last month.
A host of visions for the Northbank have unfolded over the past year.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s Shipyards proposal advanced from a DIA committee in June, clearing another hurdle.
Khan’s development company, Iguana Investments, is proposing to build a riverfront Four Seasons hotel complex on a five-acre parcel of the Shipyards and part of Metropolitan Park, that includes a one-acre office building development and $301.2 million in private investment.
The city would contribute $114.5 million to preparing the property under Khan's Shipyards proposal.
Meanwhile, Museum of Science and History CEO Bruce Fafard said on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross last month that the MOSH is nearing the $31 million mark in fundraising to build a new museum on Jacksonville’s Northbank near Khan’s proposed development.
Khan and his family are donating $5 million to MOSH help build the new facility.
The DIA has also been evaluating proposals to develop the former Duval County Courthouse and City Hall Annex sites along the river in what is currently being marketed as the Ford on Bay.
SouthEast Development is proposing to help lead and unify the various visions that would stretch across more than 20-acres of land, much of which is owned by the city.
Here's more information about SouthEast Development’s proposed master plan.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
