Jacksonville Jacksonville is showing promising signs as it moves closer to a new era. Follow the Leaders. Follow Florida Trend. Follow the 250,000 business, government and civic leaders who rely on Florida Trend each month to deliver the latest news items and developing trends in Florida business. Why not join them at a special introductory subscription rate? www.FloridaTrend.com/subscribe ( Jacksonville Community Portrait ) T rend Florida www.FloridaTrend.com Publisher Andrew P. Corty Executive Editor Mark R. Howard EDITORIAL Managing Editor John Annunziata A Word from the Publisher South Florida Editor Mike Vogel Associate Editors Jason Garcia, Welcome to Florida Trend’s Art Levy, Amy Martinez Restaurant Editor Chris Sherman special report on Jacksonville. In this Contributors Rochelle Broder-Singer, e-zine format, you’ll see the full Carlton Proctor, Ron Word Community Portrait that was fea- ART tured in our June 2015 issue. Art Director Gary Bernloehr Associate Art Director Jason Morton If you don’t already know the ADMINISTRATION country’s 12th most populous city, Business Manager Barbara Goodman you’ll learn that Jacksonville is a Staff Accountant Jenny Shea great place to visit — and also a CIRCULATION great city in which to live, build a Director of Audience Development Karen Tyson Print & Fulfillment Supervisor Connie Greenblatt career and raise a family. It’s a city Customer Relations Marsha Almodovar on the move. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT The excitement is palpable. From about the place. Associate Publisher Janice G. Sharp the Shipyards and “Healthy Town” Florida Trend continues its Marketing & Special Projects Coordinator Leslie Vasbinder to coffee shops and craft breweries, series of Business and Community Creative/Graphic Designer Anne Meyer residents are pumped about all the Portraits in coming editions. 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Address Change: www.FloridaTrend.com/MediaKit Send address with mailing label from past issue to Florida Trend, Phone: 727/821-5800 P.O. Box 16238, North Hollywood, CA 91615. Allow six weeks. Email: [email protected] Member: BPA Worldwide, Alliance of Area Business Publications, Florida Magazine Association PORTRAIT FIN 4/28 ( Jacksonville Community Portrait ) 4 JUNE 2015 FLORIDATREND.COM photo: Ryan Ketterman ( Jacksonville( Community Community Portrait Portrait ) ) Jacksonville By Jason Garcia Jacksonville is showing promising signs as it moves closer to a new era. or nearly 50 years, Jacksonville has been Florida’s largest city by land mass — a legacy of its consolidation with F Duval County that produced a unified government for the entire county. The city has traditionally played catch-up to Miami, Orlando and Tampa in population growth rates and sex appeal, but Jacksonville is on the brink of a new era. FLORIDATREND.COM JUNE 2015 5 ( Jacksonville Community Portrait ) The riverbend creates long swaths of urban waterfront property with high development potential. The most promising signs appear homes and shops line the streets of man Shahid Khan, have stamped out throughout Jacksonville’s central San Marco. At the heart of down- incessant relocation rumors and made core, which sits astride the right EverBank town, a non-profit group is working more than $60 million in upgrades to turn the St. Johns River makes as Field has to rehabilitate the city’s oldest pub- EverBank Field, including a pair of it flows north toward the Atlantic lic park, Hemming Park. enormous scoreboards. The Jackson- undergone Ocean. The riverbend creates long Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Jag- ville Armada began play this year in swaths of urban waterfront prop- $60 million in uars, owned by billionaire business- the North American Soccer League erty with appealing vistas, and in upgrades. the post-recession years interest has surged in capitalizing on those riverfront assets and revitalizing the city center. Businesses are once again mov- ing downtown, from EverBank Financial to Intuition Ale Works, a 5-year-old brewery that is part of a fast-growing local craft brewing scene as robust as those anywhere else in Florida. Two big apartment projects are about to open in the Riverside area near downtown, injecting hundreds of new residents into the city core. Funky, indepen- dent restaurants and coffee shops are blooming in nearby Five Points, while across the river on the south bank of the St. Johns attractive 6 JUNE 2015 FLORIDATREND.COM bottom photo: Ryan Ketterman ( Jacksonville Community Portrait ) Jacksonville’s beaches are a major attraction. Tourist tax revenue has grown for four consecutive years. in front of a league record crowd of that was once the site of a power fined industry in Jacksonville are more than 16,000. And One Spark, plant. Tentatively dubbed “Healthy long gone, but the city’s industrial the 3-year-old crowdsourcing Town,” the project will combine heart still beats strongly. Compa- entrepreneurial festival, drew more 1,000 multifamily residential nies such as Johnson & Johnson’s than 320,500 to downtown over a units aimed at all generations contact lens unit Vistakon and six-day period in mid-April. with 200,000 square feet of retail General Electric’s oil and gas divi- Meanwhile, two big real estate space, all built around a healthy sion are expanding, as are financial projects hold the potential to living theme. The open- heavyweights such as Deutsche fundamentally reshape Jackson- The momentum extends beyond air St. Johns Bank, which continues to relocate ville’s core. Khan recently unveiled the city center. To the north, across jobs from New York City to north- Town Center a proposal to transform 46 acres of the river, a former Pepsi executive east Florida. With help from the city-owned, waterfront property is whipping tiny Jacksonville Uni- has more than state and federal governments, that once housed shipyards. Khan’s versity into a new economic and 150 stores. plans include a hotel, marina, civic force — and in the process, riverwalk and football-themed helping to redevelop the Arlington public space, along with residential neighborhood, a first-tier suburb and commercial development. The that dates to the 1950s and 1960s. Shipyards project would fill in an Civic leaders have raised $50 mil- unsightly gap between downtown lion from private donors through a Jacksonville and the Jaguars’ program known as “Quality Educa- football stadium. tion for All” to invest in Jackson- Immediately across the river in ville’s lowest-performing public Southbank, former Disney and St. schools. The mammoth St. Johns Joe executive Peter Rummell and a Town Center, an open-air mall with partner plan to develop a $500-mil- more than 150 stores, continues to lion, mixed-use project on 29 drive retail growth. acres of public utility-owned land The paper mills that once de- 8 JUNE 2015 FLORIDATREND.COM top photo: Ryan Ketterman ( Jacksonville Community Portrait ) Jacksonville’s port is investing millions in upgrades such as new container cranes Demographics and is working on plans to deepen its > Population: 897,698.