Rebuilding RISE Doro

[CityLife]

I like riverfront plaza, but add up the price of demolition, lost property tax revenues, cost of new construction, etc and what is the total we have sunk into Phase 1 of a riverfront park? (Albeit, a world class one!)

I think it is interesting because the Landing was perfect shell for the "Food Hall" craze. it got demolished right before it could have become an "Armature Works" type place. Just insane.

Have we spent $50 million+ so far? What would $25 million have done for the Landing? Renovated entire thing easily.

We were well into the food hall craze when the Landing was demo'd. The Jaxon posted this article and probably others too. https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/so-jax-may-be-the-only-city-to-demolish-its-landing/

I know before demo I mentioned multiple times that The Landing would be far more successful if modified with more outdoor seating, better views, and a better tenant mix. My pitch was to make it a Best of Jax type place and get many of the good restaurants from the beach or other parts of town to have a stall there. I still think that would have been one of the best bang for your buck type projects the city could do downtown.

Speaking of Riverfront Plaza and active food/dining on the water, what is the status of the Beer Garden?

[thelakelander]

Tearing down the Landing set downtown back by a decade. It was one of the dumbest DT development decisions ever made in Jax history by people elected to serve locally. As predicted back then, we'll spend more than $100 million on Riverfront Plaza when its all said and the space will still stimulate less consistent foot traffic. What should have been a simple retrofit of an already active space ended up being a big opportunity loss. It will take some time to regenerate what was lost, so it will be good for the council to stop looking at the bone headed moves in a vacuum.

[CityLife]

It's still early, but their pre-leasing does not look promising. I posted this in another thread last week, but it appears as if Rise has only leased 2 of the 98 units available for move in on February 6th and 4 of the 127 units available on May 1st. They are offering 2 free months rent and a $1k credit. It does not look like any additional units have been leased since my post last week too. Here is their map of available units: https://risedoro.com/siteplan/

Been about a month since this last update on Rise. Leasing does not look like it has picked up at all. 225 units are still available. It appears that only 2 or 3 units that were available for move in in early February are currently occupied. Nearly a full month after opening. It also looks like only 2 units are reserved for the later move in on May 1st.

I also posted a month ago that Union Terminal had 132 units available out of 228 units. Since then, only 3 additional units have been booked, so there are still 129 units available now.

Not ideal.

[heights unknown]

Tsk, tsk, tsk; bad news bears. What seems to be the problem with the brakes screeching to a halt for people renting/purchasing these units/homes downtown or in the Urban Core?

[MakeDTjaxGre@tAgain]

Tsk, tsk, tsk; bad news bears. What seems to be the problem with the brakes screeching to a halt for people renting/purchasing these units/homes downtown or in the Urban Core?

Quick answer, there's not enough to do in that size of downtown to draw in a crowd. Plus the fire doesn't help. Perception of a fire not too long ago will be a turn off imo. But give it time, as more people visit the VyStar Arena and baseball grounds, the more it will be aware of its completion and would consider moving in. They should really keep pushing marketing to get the word out that they're almost done. And have a top notch commercial space to draw in folks. They're basically in three middle of no where.

No other residential development outside of the 4Seasons and that's still a year away with only 26 condos. Kinda feels like Brooklyn all over again. In the end it will pay off, someone had to be the first and we def need Lot J to kick off. I don't really take what Mark Lamping says for face value. Sometimes it's a bit misleading, but Lot J seems to be a ways away. Hoping I'm wrong and it's not too long. You'd figure that they have something they're working on now, present it Q4 this year/ Q1 next year and go through the process.

Outside of the Jags, another proposal for residential dev has came up in that area in what seems like the most awkward location getting in and out. Good luck to anyone who chooses to live there. Just my opinion.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2026/feb/06/texas-company-buys-tailgate-bar-parking-near-everbank-stadium/

[fsu813]

It's still early, but their pre-leasing does not look promising. I posted this in another thread last week, but it appears as if Rise has only leased 2 of the 98 units available for move in on February 6th and 4 of the 127 units available on May 1st. They are offering 2 free months rent and a $1k credit. It does not look like any additional units have been leased since my post last week too. Here is their map of available units: https://risedoro.com/siteplan/

Been about a month since this last update on Rise. Leasing does not look like it has picked up at all. 225 units are still available. It appears that only 2 or 3 units that were available for move in in early February are currently occupied. Nearly a full month after opening. It also looks like only 2 units are reserved for the later move in on May 1st.

I also posted a month ago that Union Terminal had 132 units available out of 228 units. Since then, only 3 additional units have been booked, so there are still 129 units available now.

Not ideal.

It's known that the rental market is currently softer than anticipated.

[CityLife]

It's still early, but their pre-leasing does not look promising. I posted this in another thread last week, but it appears as if Rise has only leased 2 of the 98 units available for move in on February 6th and 4 of the 127 units available on May 1st. They are offering 2 free months rent and a $1k credit. It does not look like any additional units have been leased since my post last week too. Here is their map of available units: https://risedoro.com/siteplan/

Been about a month since this last update on Rise. Leasing does not look like it has picked up at all. 225 units are still available. It appears that only 2 or 3 units that were available for move in in early February are currently occupied. Nearly a full month after opening. It also looks like only 2 units are reserved for the later move in on May 1st.

I also posted a month ago that Union Terminal had 132 units available out of 228 units. Since then, only 3 additional units have been booked, so there are still 129 units available now.

Not ideal.

It's known that the rental market is currently softer than anticipated.

Known by whom? Discussed publicly where? It is known that the U2C is worthless, but it is still discussed on here frequently.

[jaxlongtimer]

No surprise to me on Doro. 

As I have noted before, poor architecture/layout, high rents, bad location and orientation plus a softer rental market may add up to bad news for building occupancy.  Just because you build it doesn't mean they will come.

Rise has other properties so this won't put them under but I could see them flipping this at a loss (Khan would possibly jump on a fire sale, no pun intended, given his command of the greater area) to not waste a lot of time on something that may take years to be successful.  I am also guessing interest rates increased between the time they committed to this project and its completion skewing any expected results thus adding to any pain.

[Jax_Developer]

What happened to the ~100 AirBnb's? Lmfaoooo

[Ken_FSU]

The lure of this property for RISE was Lot J. They built it under the assumption that the city and Jags would be standing up the amenities nextdoor necessary to justify the high rents.

It's the same reason that MOSH moved across the river, the Orleck folks brought the ship to the Shipyards, and JTA ran a $60 million clown car line down to the sports district.

Broken record, but absent amenities (a managed Sports & Entertainment district like literally every other major city has stood up or is actively standing up alongside their new arena/stadium developments), this whole area is going to flounder.

Why in the world would someone spend Doro rents or Four Seasons room night dollars to stay in a sea of asphalt?

[CityLife]

Agreed on Rise getting burned by the Lot J deal.

I think the Four Seasons may still do ok without Lot J because it will be an entirely self contained experience where guests don't ever have to leave the site. They also have such a healthy incentive package, that will presumably let them offer rates on the extreme low end for a Four Seasons. The ability to stay at a Four Seasons property for $300-$350 a night will potentially draw in local and regional guests. It's an affordable location for high-end small corporate retreats or conferences. It's a desirable spot for athletes training or rehabbing. And will be a go to spot for visitors of sporting events and concerts. But DT Jax is not really a $500-$1k a night hotel market, so it will be very interesting to see how they handle the rates.

I personally think a JW would have been a better fit for the DT Jax market and done more for downtown overall, but am more optimistic that Khan can make this succeed than some other projects DT.

[Jankelope]

This kind of development is complicated because "If you build it they will come" isn't always immediately true. Someone has to assume more risk on the front end. The real equation is "if you build enough of it close enough they will come" and that's a lot harder to do all at the same time.

Rise DORO will undoubtedly be fine in the long run, as I do believe that it is only a matter of time before we have a new Lot J-esque proposal, + whatever will be the Fairgrounds. I am hoping that the Fairgrounds isn't just more parking.

[Ken_FSU]

Agreed on Rise getting burned by the Lot J deal.

I think the Four Seasons may still do ok without Lot J because it will be an entirely self contained experience where guests don't ever have to leave the site. They also have such a healthy incentive package, that will presumably let them offer rates on the extreme low end for a Four Seasons. The ability to stay at a Four Seasons property for $300-$350 a night will potentially draw in local and regional guests. It's an affordable location for high-end small corporate retreats or conferences. It's a desirable spot for athletes training or rehabbing. And will be a go to spot for visitors of sporting events and concerts. But DT Jax is not really a $500-$1k a night hotel market, so it will be very interesting to see how they handle the rates.

I personally think a JW would have been a better fit for the DT Jax market and done more for downtown overall, but am more optimistic that Khan can make this succeed than some other projects DT.

You're probably right on Four Seasons specifically. I used to do a lot of work with Visit Jax, and it was pretty crazy to see how many bed tax dollars for downtown events ended up at the PVIC and Ritz. Hopefully having a high-end hotel on the river claws some of those dollars back.

On JW, that's actually my prediction for the Gateway Jax hotel flag at Riverfront Plaza.

[Jankelope]

I think hotel on Riverfront Plaza would be great. I like the idea though of it being a mix of multi-family, hotel, ground level retail, rooftop restaurant.

[Steve]

Agreed on Rise getting burned by the Lot J deal.

I think the Four Seasons may still do ok without Lot J because it will be an entirely self contained experience where guests don't ever have to leave the site. They also have such a healthy incentive package, that will presumably let them offer rates on the extreme low end for a Four Seasons. The ability to stay at a Four Seasons property for $300-$350 a night will potentially draw in local and regional guests. It's an affordable location for high-end small corporate retreats or conferences. It's a desirable spot for athletes training or rehabbing. And will be a go to spot for visitors of sporting events and concerts. But DT Jax is not really a $500-$1k a night hotel market, so it will be very interesting to see how they handle the rates.

I personally think a JW would have been a better fit for the DT Jax market and done more for downtown overall, but am more optimistic that Khan can make this succeed than some other projects DT.

Remember, the residents. JW doesn't have a residential component. Four Seasons (and Ritz) often does, and there are for sale options in the one in Jax. Those residents pay condo fees, which I can imagine are really steep.

Meaning....if the hotel is half empty it still has the condo fees coming in to help float the property.