JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gateway Jax is transforming Downtown Jacksonville’s Pearl Square into a walkable neighborhood full of dining, wellness and lifestyle businesses.
The nearly one-billion-dollar development stretches across nine blocks and brings beloved local restaurants like Murray Hill’s Buchnew Biergarten and St. Augustine’s Bar Citra to Downtown.
Other businesses include PopUp Bagels, Go Greek Yogurt, JETSET Pilates and Pearl Street Nails.
Also in Pearl Square will be a Publix and a from-scratch Italian restaurant, Colletta.
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Gateway Jax CEO Bryan Moll says the entire project will have about 13 different buildings comprised of over 1250 residential units, 1000,000 square feet of office space, 110 hotel rooms and 200,000 square feet of retail.
“Our goal with this development is to create a truly mixed-use walkable urban neighborhood that essentially can have all of the needs that will meet someone’s daily life all within walking distance,” Moll said. “The idea is really to create the everyday conveniences right at your doorstep.”
He says he hopes this brings new residents downtown.
“There is a ton of pent-up demand for people that want to live downtown,” Moll said. “But the trick is, in order to build the amount of residential that we are planning to build, and to do it at scale, you really need to have the right type of retail and restaurants that deliver hand in hand with that.”
Michelle Clunie, who lives right across the street from the development, says she hopes it will make downtown safer.
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“It gives us a chance to be able to blend in with a nice community, which we need because we have a lot of homeless people that walk up and down the street, which is not safe,” Clunie said.
She says she’s already gearing up for the change.
“We’re all excited to see how it’s going to turn out,” Clunie said. “I’m going to be one of the first ones over there. I really am.”
Some businesses in Pearl Square are expected to open as early as Fall of this year, and Moll says the entire project should be wrapped up in less than two years.
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