The Cathedral District Apartments would be part of a seven-story residential and retail complex at East Duval and Newnan streets.
Published on April 4, 2025 at 3:13 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
Downtown Jacksonville could soon add more affordable housing to the Cathedral District and a riverfront restaurant and retail to Brooklyn’s rapidly growing Riverside Avenue corridor.
Miami-based developer Housing Trust Group Inc., partnering with the nonprofit neighborhood revitalization group Cathedral District Jax Inc., has approached the Downtown Investment Authority with an unsolicited proposal to obtain about 0.21 acres of city-owned land on East Duval Street to include as part of a mixed-use apartment and retail project.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
To the southwest in Brooklyn, R&M Architects has asked the Downtown Development Review Board to approve preliminary design plans for two additions to the former St. Joe building — a restaurant on the St. Johns River and a two-story retail and office building along Riverside Avenue.
Cathedral District Apartments
The DIA board’s Retail and Property Disposition Committee is scheduled to vote April 10 on a resolution to issue a state-required 30-day notice of disposition before Housing Trust Group and Cathedral District Jax could finalize a deal with the city to acquire the public property for the apartments.
Cathedral District Jax is under contact to purchase about 0.35 acres adjacent to the city-owned land that would make up the full project site, according to the resolution and supporting documents included in the DIA committee’s meeting packet.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The documents say the apartments would be part of a seven-story residential and retail complex on East Duval and Newnan streets.
The developers plan 75 of the 85 apartments to set aside as affordable housing for households earning at or below 80% of the area median income.
The 10 other units would be rented as market-rate.
Cathedral District Jax and another developer, The Vestcor Cos., recently opened another affordable housing project about two blocks southwest of its latest proposal. Lofts at Cathedral is a 120-unit complex that incorporates a $5.45 million renovation of the former YWCA building at 325 E. Duval St. combined with new construction at 327 E. Duval St.
The first two levels of what’s been given the placeholder name Cathedral District Apartments will have a 33,000-square-foot, 90-space parking garage and 1,200 square feet of retail space. The apartments will also have an outdoor space that includes a pool and barbecue grill and lounge areas.
The full DIA board also will vote on issuing the disposition as soon as April 16, which will allow other interested developers a chance to bid on the property before the deed is transferred to Cathedral District Jax.
City Council also would have to approve a redevelopment agreement for the project, which the developer expects would take 24 months to complete.
A valuation and cost-benefit analysis conducted by the DIA shows the city-owned 0.21 acres is valued at $271,000, and the city agency previously spent $200,000 to demolition a structure on the property.
Gates of Riverside
The five-story office building and former headquarters of the St. Joe Co. at 245 Riverside Ave., now called Gates of Riverside, was built in 2003.
The current building owner, Hakimian Holdings, and project architect R&M Architects are expected to present the proposed building additions to the Downtown Development Review Board on April 10.
A report by the city board’s staff says the riverfront restaurant addition would be one story and have a rooftop open to patrons. The two-story add-on fronting Riverside Avenue would have ground floor retail with offices above.
Staff are recommending the board approve the conceptual design. The project would have to return to the board for final design approval before the project could break ground.
