JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Downtown Jacksonville is beginning to hit its stride.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the takeaway of the newly released <\/b>State of Downtown Report<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n The report said 958 new residential units came online in 2025, and downtown\u2019s population grew by nearly 1,400 residents.<\/p>\n That\u2019s more than a 20 percent increase in people living downtown in just one year and a 97 percent increase since 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cDowntown is growing rapidly,\u201d Jake Gordon, CEO of Downtown Vision, which produces the State of Downtown Report, said.<\/p>\n RELATED: <\/b>Downtown Jacksonville report touts record residential growth, billions of dollars in development<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Gordon noted, with 9,200 people now calling downtown home, Jacksonville is on the cusp of hitting the long-awaited 10,000-resident mark.<\/p>\n \u201cThey say that\u2019s the magic number because at some point the density of a certain area is so much living-wise, that retail follows rooftops. So, you get those things,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n And there are clear signs the demand to live downtown is alive and well, with 96 percent of residential units occupied.<\/p>\n RELATED: <\/b>Duval DOGE looks at downtown homelessness as EverBank eyes move to suburbs<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Gordan said that\u2019s a strong signal to support the nearly 1,600 units currently under construction.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we see this as a very healthy sign of not just how well we\u2019re doing, but how well we could do in the future,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n Even before hitting that 10,000-resident threshold, there\u2019s already more retail activity happening downtown.<\/p>\n RELATED: <\/b>Whole Foods Market announces opening date for new Downtown Jacksonville store<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Sixteen new downtown retail locations opened in 2025, one downtown grocery store was built, and three more under are under construction or about to start construction.<\/p>\n \u201cYou maybe want to go to Fresh Grocer for this thing, and go to Whole Foods for this and go to Publix for a Pub Sub,\u201d Gordon said. \u201dYou want it all and that\u2019s where you\u2019re going to be closer to all three of those than you\u2019ve ever been if you live in downtown in Pearl Square.\u201d<\/p>\n The growth isn\u2019t an accident, rather, the intended result of skyrocketing investments downtown.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n The report said $809 million worth of projects were completed in 2025, with $3 billion worth currently under construction.<\/p>\n And the growth isn\u2019t slowing down, with $7 billion worth of downtown projects currently in the pipeline.<\/p>\n That\u2019s more than all of the downtown projects completed between 2000 and 2024 combined.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n \u201cAnd they are betting everything on Jacksonville, that downtown Jacksonville will look like downtown Tampa, will look like downtown DC,\u201d Gordon said. \u201dAnd the reality is when they started like thinking about this five years ago, they are more right now than they were back then.\u201d<\/p>\n One area where Jacksonville is still seeing some struggles downtown is office building vacancies.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an issue Gordon argued every major city is facing, but he said he believes Jacksonville is well-positioned to make up for some of those lost office workers by increasing tourism and permanent downtown residents.<\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Downtown Jacksonville is beginning to hit its stride. 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