JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There is a concerted effort happening to reshape Downtown Jacksonville.
One of the moves includes the development of Pearl Square, which will feature housing, restaurants and retail across nine blocks.
The next phase of that project officially kicked off Thursday morning with a groundbreaking ceremony for the second building of Pearl Square on Beaver Street at 10 a.m.
This portion of the project is expected to have nearly 300 residential units, on-site parking, and almost 20,000 square feet in retail space
The purpose is to enhance community life.
That is the vision for Gateway Jax, which is the commercial real estate development firm behind the project.
Overall, it expects Pearl Square to have more than 1,250 multifamily residential units, a boutique hotel, a curbless festival street with outdoor dining, retail space, at least two different parks, a grocery store and a pharmacy.
Gateway Jax broke ground on the first phase in October 2024.
Construction is underway currently for more than 500 residential units and 40,000 square feet of retail space.
More redevelopment is set to pickup this year and in 2026, with anticipated completion at some point in 2027.
When News4JAX asked Mayor Donna Deegan about this project back in October, she said it would help ignite other redevelopment.
“When I was a little girl, downtown was all that,” Deegan said. “We used to come down here and shop and eat and all the things. That has always been my hope and my vision for downtown is that we would see it once again be this place where people would want to gather. I really do think that that is the personality of a city. You want people to be in your downtown.”
Pearl Square encompasses construction within nine different blocks downtown, including Beaver, Church, Julia and Ashley streets. It is a more than $2 billion investment that was introduced in 2023.
The mayor kept using the word “potential,” describing what’s at stake for transforming downtown and what that could mean for the future.
“I think you have to have a catalytic project like this in order to get everything else moving,” Deegan said. “When you look at the entirety of this project, once it is all done, you are talking about a couple of billion dollars in investment. I actually think you’re going to see a trigger point here, you will see the next thing and then the next thing, and then the next thing. Once downtown goes, everything else goes. This is an important investment. I am thrilled that Bryan [Moll] is here doing this work. He has been incredibly successful in their communities, and I can’t wait to see all come into fruition, and it will.”
Bryan Moll is Gateway Jax’s CEO. He has overseen several similar projects in other large cities.
Moll led the Water Street downtown development in Tampa and the Amazon HQ2 National Landing site in the Washington D.C. area.
