Report examines state of downtown Jacksonville

Downtown Vision Inc. (DVI), the nonprofit business improvement district for downtown Jacksonville, recently released its 2023 State of Downtown Report, an 18-month recap of progress and development in downtown Jacksonville from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

Each year, DVI tracks and analyzes the downtown’s performance in key indicators of urban vitality, such as development and investment, residential demand, office market and employment base, transportation and infrastructure enhancements and tourism health.

The 2023 report is released in a new digitally interactive format to complement DVI’s suite of free research resources.

The 2023 report tracks a significant increase in public and private projects in the development pipeline; as of June 2023, the pipeline totaled approximately $8 billion, up from $5 billion in last year's report. Additional highlights from the 2023 State of Downtown Report include:

• More than a half a billion dollars in projects that were in review with the city in last year’s report have broken ground.
• More than 100 acres of riverfront are being transformed by mixed-use development and world-class parks projects.
• Nearly 30% of downtown Jacksonville's 4,600 residential units began leasing in the past five years, leading the number of residents to more than double. 
• Another 5,000 residential units are under construction or in review today.
• Historic properties in the north core are being revitalized, breathing new life into long-abandoned buildings, like the apartments at 218 Church St., the fully leased Federal Reserve Bank and the historic Thomas V. Porter House Mansion. And, the recently announced $500 million Pearl Street District plans to bring develop a multiphase, mixed-use development across 20 blocks. 
• The 30-mile Emerald Trail network and numerous bike and pedestrian paths are under construction or in design to provide connections to encourage varied methods of transportation in the heart of downtown Jacksonville.
• Completed and planned expansions in the education, cultural and entertainment sectors are poised to bring more people downtown in the coming years. Jacksonville University opened Florida’s first new law school in 20 years in the downtown in August 2022 and is seeking a new expanded location. The Florida Theatre has completed a $15 million renovation. And the Jacksonville Jaguars recently finished the state-of-the-art Miller Electric Center and are planning the “stadium of the future.”
• Nearly 400 hotel rooms are currently under construction, including downtown Jacksonville’s first luxury hotel, a Four Seasons.

“The future of downtown Jacksonville has never been brighter, thanks to leadership from Mayor Deegan, City Council, the Downtown Investment Authority and private sector leaders building transformational projects,” said Jacob Gordon, CEO of Downtown Vision Inc. “Our annual State of Downtown Report outlines and analyzes all the downtown data to view our progress all in one place. From expanded waterfront access and tourism amenities to unprecedented residential growth, this report shows many sides to the growth of DTJax.”

In addition to the report, users can find additional Downtown research at DTJax.com/Research.  This research includes quarterly visitor and persona dashboards powered by Placer.ai and Spatial.ai, which provide geofenced data on COVID-19 recovery, visitor and employee traffic, visitor, employee and resident personas and brand category affinities.

It also includes interactive resident, employee and visitor survey summaries that offer insights on respondents experiences, perceptions and behaviors. Users can export data to provide more robust insights for their own projects and presentations. 

The full report is available for review and download at DTJax.com/downtown-reports.