Downtown Jax & Berkman 2...

Please take some time to review the city’s official website at the following link;

http://www.coj.net/About+Jacksonville/default.htm

Downtown Vision, Inc. (DVI) was established in 2000 as a not-for-profit organization designed to bolster the downtown community and promote it as an ideal venue for business and tourism. DVI’s initiatives include programs to make the downtown area clean and safe, to market the area through television programs, radio spots, and publications, to tackle transportation and parking issues, and retain and attract business. In 2003 DVI launched a Downtown Image campaign that included a new logo and tag-line: Downtown Jacksonville—Not Your Ordinary Neighborhood.

Jacksonville has been recognized by national media as one of the top investment areas in the nation, as shown by:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Moms/story?id=1493575

Jacksonville’s downtown has been, and still is, the location for a number of the area’s largest employers. Total work population is 70,000+ with employers such as CSX, JEA, Bank of America, Wachovia, City of Jacksonville Employees, and numerous more. In the past three years, I have seen a new interest in the development of Jacksonville’s downtown residential condominiums. The initial residential development was our Berkman Plaza (now called The Plaza). Our high rise condominium on the St. Johns River sparked seven other high-rise condominium projects (currently) along the north and south riverbanks, with price points in the $300s to $3 million.

http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/pdf/map.pdf

The establishment of a residential population base has created a demand for more downtown services to extend their hours past those that focused on the daily migration of the city’s various weekday employees. Existing establishments have seen an increase in business, recognize the change and are updating to fill the new need while new businesses are starting up to address the gap as well.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/100506/bum_5424010.shtml
http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/content/?page_id=4

In addition to our company, other commercial developers that have assisted in the renovation of other large metropolitan cities have recognized the potential for developing the Jacksonville area and have focused their business here.

http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2006/11/06/story8.html
http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/content/?page_id=38

For a complete progress report on Downtown Jacksonville, the 2006 report by Downtown Vision is available at:

http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/pdf/StateofDT2006Final.pdf