Helmets sit on shovels at a groundbreaking for Villages at Lake Forest on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. | Leah Foreman, Jacksonville Business Journal
Published on April 15, 2026 at 3:35 pm
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Affordable housing — including homes for public school employees — and an early childhood learning center will soon be built at the site of a former school on the Northside.
Located at the site of the former Lake Forest Elementary School, at 901 Kennard St., which closed in 2019 and was demolished earlier this year, the Villages at Lake Forest will bring 180 units of affordable housing between 40% and 80% of the area median income.
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A quarter of Village at Lake Forest’s one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be set aside for Duval County Public School staff. In addition, the community will have a computer lab, library, community space, an area for workshops and trainings and a walking trail. The property also will have a pre-kindergarten school and a playground. The school district will operate the on-site early-learning center.
The community will offer 25 units at 40% of the area median income, 72 units at 60% and 23 units at 80%.
This is a joint-venture by the nonprofit and Duval County Public Schools. The school district still owns the 9.8-acre property.
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“I feel confident in saying that we’re all benefiting from this masterclass in teamwork, collaboration and community,” Jim Culbert, chief operating officer of Duval County Public Schools, said at a greoundbreaking Wednesday. Culbert also noted that the school opened in 1950 and had served thousands of students.
Reggie Fullwood, who became CEO of Ability Housing this year, told the Business Journal he is looking at doing future partnerships like this with Duval Schools in the future.
“There are several schools that are closing down or already closed that we’re interested in,” he said. “It makes a lot of sense because schools are often community hubs and when we build our projects we want to make them community hubs as well.”
This was Fullwood’s first groundbreaking as CEO of Ability Housing.
“It’s exciting. I’ve been around the organization as a board member for years and a part of a lot of these, but it’s sort of special doing it as CEO,” Fullwood said.
In addition to Fullwood and Culbert, Mayor Donna Deegan; City Council member Ju’Coby Pittman; Mark Bennett, president of Bank of America Jacksonville and an alumnus of Lake Forest Elementary School; and Richard Sisisky, chair of the board of trustees for The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida spoke at the event.
“I’m hoping this is a blueprint that we can continue to replicate, because this is, this is a wonderful way to move forward on affordable housing,” Deegan said.
Deegan noted that this community’s 120 units add to nearly 7,000 units of affordable housing that have been added to Jacksonville since she took office.
The project was made possible through a unique funding stack, which combined public and private sources.
- Bank of America is underwriting a $23 million construction mortgage.
- Nonprofit syndicator National Equity Fund is providing about $18.1 million in low-income housing tax credit equity.
- The Community Preservation Corp. is underwriting a $10 million permanent mortgage.
- The city of Jacksonville also provided $4 million through a community development block grant and $2.5 million from a HOME loan.
- The Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority provided $2.5 million in financing.
- The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida provided a $500,000 impact investment through its Local Capital Pool.
The nonprofit enlisted construction services from Elkins Construction and architecture services from PDQ Group.
Elkins Construction was issued a $15 million permit for demolition of the former school building in February 2026. The site is currently being prepped for utilities, and digging is underway for a retention pond.
This marks Ability Housing’s second project with Elkins Construction, after the Village at Cedar Hills, a 90-unit project on the Westside.
“We’re passionate about affordable housing,” Rob Charnley, project manager for Elkins Construction, said. “Hopefully we will build our relationship with [Ability Housing] and we hope to keep the ball moving.”
Charnley said it will be about a 22-month project and is slated for completion by December 2027.
This story was published as part of the Northeast Florida News Collaborative.
