State of Downtown Report 2025

[urban_]

New SODR just dropped for any interested!
https://dtjax.com/2025-state-of-downtown-report/

[Ken_FSU]

First time I've seen the RiversEdge boutique hotel (briefly) mentioned publicly. No clue if it will actually happen, but it's one that's been talked about for at least a year now it feels like.

[Ken_FSU]

P.S. Apologies if paywalled, but if you want a true state of downtown report, the Business Journal has been exceptional series that balances optimism about the future with the current reality on the streets. Great, honest commentary vs. marketing spin. Room for both, I suppose.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2025/11/19/downtown-cp-part-duex-rising-costs-empty-seats.html

[thelakelander]

^One restaurant owner has called it quits...

Lily's Asian-American Food closes in Downtown Jacksonville

Less than nine months after it opened in Downtown Jacksonville's historic core, Lily's Asian-American Food is closed.

Owner Lily Grabb said she shut down the restaurant at 11 E. Forsyth in mid-October after struggling to attract lunch customers, an issue she blamed partly on remote or hybrid work policies for Downtown workers. As in other cities, Downtown Jacksonville's worker population fell during the pandemic and has yet to return to pre-2020 levels as some employers continue to allow staff to work remotely.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/nov/21/lilys-asian-american-food-closes-in-downtown-jacksonville/

[thelakelander]

P.S. Apologies if paywalled, but if you want a true state of downtown report, the Business Journal has been exceptional series that balances optimism about the future with the current reality on the streets. Great, honest commentary vs. marketing spin. Room for both, I suppose.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2025/11/19/downtown-cp-part-duex-rising-costs-empty-seats.html

Good article. I wish it were not behind a paywall so that more people locally could read.

[soepic]

^One restaurant owner has called it quits...

Lily's Asian-American Food closes in Downtown Jacksonville

Less than nine months after it opened in Downtown Jacksonville's historic core, Lily's Asian-American Food is closed.

Owner Lily Grabb said she shut down the restaurant at 11 E. Forsyth in mid-October after struggling to attract lunch customers, an issue she blamed partly on remote or hybrid work policies for Downtown workers. As in other cities, Downtown Jacksonville's worker population fell during the pandemic and has yet to return to pre-2020 levels as some employers continue to allow staff to work remotely.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/nov/21/lilys-asian-american-food-closes-in-downtown-jacksonville/

I ate there and had plenty of Filipino food both gourmet and homemade, but unfortunately Lily's was the worst. Shocked it lasted as long as it did. Hoping something great can last at that great location.

[Zac T]

^One restaurant owner has called it quits...

Lily's Asian-American Food closes in Downtown Jacksonville

Less than nine months after it opened in Downtown Jacksonville's historic core, Lily's Asian-American Food is closed.

Owner Lily Grabb said she shut down the restaurant at 11 E. Forsyth in mid-October after struggling to attract lunch customers, an issue she blamed partly on remote or hybrid work policies for Downtown workers. As in other cities, Downtown Jacksonville's worker population fell during the pandemic and has yet to return to pre-2020 levels as some employers continue to allow staff to work remotely.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/nov/21/lilys-asian-american-food-closes-in-downtown-jacksonville/

I ate there and had plenty of Filipino food both gourmet and homemade, but unfortunately Lily's was the worst. Shocked it lasted as long as it did. Hoping something great can last at that great location.

Agreed, the quality was subpar and the vibe of the restaurant was weird. Felt like they didn't really know what they wanted to be. This space will likely be leased sooner rather than later

[Zac T]

According to the JDR, the 2025 resident numbers include the Union Terminal Warehouse which is not within the official Downtown boundaries but "Downtown Adjacent." I feel like there's enough momentum happening within Downtown that we can stop using outside projects to fluff up the numbers

The 2025 numbers were bolstered by the openings of four residential or mixed-use developments: the 340-unit Artea Southbank, 220-unit Union Terminal Warehouse, 120-unit Lofts at Cathedral, which opened in late 2024, and the start of leasing at the 271-unit One Riverside.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/nov/19/report-residential-population-visitors-on-the-rise-in-downtown-jacksonville/

[jaxlongtimer]

^ If you are a restaurant or retailer trying to survive in a "walkable" downtown, the only true "downtown" is the central Northcore.  Everything else is close to irrelevant.  The 10,000 target should only apply to the Northcore.  How many residences are currently in the Northcore?

People in Brooklyn and the Southbank have plenty of options and are not going to regularly frequent into the Northcore as a result.  Especially without mass transit that reliably connects them to the Northcore.  U2C and the Skyway don't cut it for most and walkable is questionable. Maybe when the Emerald Trail is completed.   If they are going to get in a car, they might as well head to Town Center.

[jcjohnpaint]

I do feel a skyway link to Brooklyn would have made an impact in the nc

[Ken_FSU]

I do feel a skyway link to Brooklyn would have made an impact in the nc

100x the impact of the U2C, for less than 5% the cost of Bay Street Phase I.

On Lily's, hate to say it, but never should have opened. They were in over their heads from day one.

[Tacachale]

According to the JDR, the 2025 resident numbers include the Union Terminal Warehouse which is not within the official Downtown boundaries but "Downtown Adjacent." I feel like there's enough momentum happening within Downtown that we can stop using outside projects to fluff up the numbers

The 2025 numbers were bolstered by the openings of four residential or mixed-use developments: the 340-unit Artea Southbank, 220-unit Union Terminal Warehouse, 120-unit Lofts at Cathedral, which opened in late 2024, and the start of leasing at the 271-unit One Riverside.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/nov/19/report-residential-population-visitors-on-the-rise-in-downtown-jacksonville/

On this note, the DIA is refining its goals and mission statement with the new CEO Colin Tarbert. One shift is something The Jaxson has been hammering on for 6 years: the folk wisdom about 10k residents being some magic benchmark of vitality. Spread over 4 miles, that number means nothing.

Currently DIA is looking to refine the residency goals to focus on the Northbank core and LaVilla specifically, not Sputhbank and Brooklyn, with specific benchmarks for the numbers. I think that'll be a better approach.

[thelakelander]

I do feel a skyway link to Brooklyn would have made an impact in the nc

100x the impact of the U2C, for less than 5% the cost of Bay Street Phase I.

This has been pretty clear since day one to everyone but JTA.

[jaxlongtimer]

Dallas looks to be Downtown Jacksonville on steroids.  How about this loss for a downtown that failed to take care of business, literally and figuratively:

How once-thriving Dallas has been left to rot as giant companies flee for greener pastures and lay off workers... and locals know who's to blame

One of America's biggest companies is ditching Dallas - the latest blow for the once-leading city that has now been left struggling.

AT&T announced on Monday that it would be slowly abandoning its Downtown Dallas campus to move to a new complex roughly 30 minutes away in Plano by 2028.

This will affect roughly 6,000 employees, according to The Dallas Morning News.

The anchor company has been in Dallas since 2008 and have helped fuel a thriving economy for the Southern city, but now many local businesses are worried about the future of downtown business after AT&T leaves for good.

The cellular company is the only company on Forbes' Top 50 that is based in Dallas.

Locals blame AT&T's pullout on City Hall, as local officials failed to correctly manage the downtown area, leading to public safety and quality of life issues, the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board wrote in an op-ed on Tuesday.

'For too long, Dallas' elected officials and city management refused to acknowledge that public safety and quality of life had declined to the point that the central city felt dangerous and often was dangerous,' the editorial board wrote.

The city has around 3,700-large homeless population, some of whom has displayed 'frightening behavior' and built encampments and filled the city with the smell of marijuana, the board said....

....'But as we worked to retain AT&T, it became clear that its current leaders preferred a large horizontal, suburban-style campus rather than the skyscrapers that define our city center.' ....



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15438745/dallas-texas-businesses-leaving-layoffs-economy.html

[arb]

Wow, I lived in Dallas for a few years and AT&T had invested a lot in the building and surrounding area like Discovery District. It cannot be more than 5 years old. While Downtown Dallas isn't the most vibrant district, it's leaps and bounds more happening than Jacksonville.