{"id":788802,"date":"2026-05-11T13:25:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T13:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/788802\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T13:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T13:25:19","slug":"downtown-jacksonville-keeps-growing-but-can-it-create-enough-everyday-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/788802\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown Jacksonville keeps growing, but can it create enough everyday activity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 Concerts and events near the Florida Theatre often bring crowds through downtown Jacksonville and into nearby restaurants like Dorothy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Can Downtown Jacksonville\u2019s development boom deliver homes people can actually afford?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

But business owners said the bigger goal is creating that same kind of activity on an ordinary weekday.<\/p>\n

At Dorothy\u2019s, a Louisiana-inspired restaurant near the Florida Theatre named after Executive Chef Marvin Barnes\u2019 grandmother, her Creole recipes helped inspire the menu. Barnes said downtown businesses survive by giving people more reasons to stay. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all work together downtown,\u201d Barnes said while working in the kitchen. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to work together if you plan on surviving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dorothy\u2019s opened nearly a year ago as part of downtown Jacksonville\u2019s ongoing wave of development, which includes billions of dollars in projects planned, under construction, or proposed throughout the urban core.<\/p>\n

But business owners said downtown still needs more consistent day-to-day activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be better. We need more people,\u201d Kyle Goings said, the lead bartender at Dorothy\u2019s. \u201cIt\u2019s getting the facelift that\u2019s much needed in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downtown Vision CEO Jake Gordon told News4JAX\u2019s Reporter Briana Brownlee and Jesse Hanson downtown Jacksonville is still in a transition period as it adjusts to changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts in the traditional office work environment. <\/p>\n

Gordon said downtown leaders are now focused on creating more \u201cwalk traffic,\u201d the kind of consistent foot traffic that supports smaller businesses and encourages people to spend more time downtown outside of destination events.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the smaller places that you just have to walk by and get your coffee from,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cIt\u2019s really the walk traffic that we are really trying to increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goings said another way to build that consistency is by adding more family-friendly attractions and daytime destinations downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I think we are lacking is more museums, more art, even an aquarium,\u201d Goings said. \u201cWe need more family-friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite some storefronts still sitting empty downtown, Gordon said the long-term momentum is moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are all of these cranes you are seeing and these things being built,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cI think you can be cynical of the street-level experience, but the future of downtown is bright.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many downtown businesses, the hope is that Jacksonville\u2019s ongoing growth eventually translates into more people spending time downtown not just during major events, but throughout the week.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Concerts and events near the Florida Theatre often bring crowds through downtown Jacksonville and into…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":788803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,18362,18605,3188,723,7310,12013,109478,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-788802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-downtown-development","tag-downtown-jacksonville","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-morning-show","tag-pearl-square","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116556171112616320","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}