Downtown In Progress

[BHCav]

From The Jacksonville Times-Union:

By JOE LIGHT

The Times-Union

1. River Watch at City Centre

Kuhn Cos.

188 condos in a 35-story tower;

76 units wrapping a parking garage

The company last week closed on the parcel where it wants to build the tower. Southeast vice president George Moore says that construction will begin in the next few weeks and that the infrastructure and foundation work will finish in six months. The company is completing its floor plan designs and plans to start taking reservations within two months. Kuhn Cos. officials hope the project will be complete in 30 months.

2. Berkman Plaza, Phase 2

The Harbor Cos.

222 units in a 23-story tower

Berkman spokeswoman Evin Willman said that the developer has 50 units under contract, including seven put under this week. She says construction is still on schedule to finish in the fourth quarter of 2008.

3. The Jacksonville Shipyards

The LandMar Group

1,000 units in four towers (1st phase)

LandMar spokesman Jim Doyle says the company has about 150 reservations for its first tower, which would have about 328 units. He says sales will begin after floor plans are finalized and that the company hopes to begin construction late this year.

4. The Jacksonville Landing garage

Jacksonville Landing Investments

Parking garage with retail and condos

Developer Toney Sleiman has said he plans to build a mixed-use parking garage sometime in the future, though plans for that facility will need to be put on hold as he waits for new parking to be constructed for The Jacksonville Landing by developer Cameron Kuhn.

5. The Peninsula

American Land Ventures

234 condos in a 37-story tower

Construction workers are currently pouring the tower's 15th floor, says John Spassoff, vice president of sales for American Land Ventures. He said construction will take at least another year.

6. The Strand

American Land Ventures

295 units in a 28-story tower

Spassoff says about 10 percent of the units are under contract. The developer wants 25 percent of the building to be under contract before closings begin and also hopes to be nearing completion at that time.

7. The Vu

American Land Ventures

190 condos in a 40-story tower

Spassoff says that his team hasn't yet moved forward to develop marketing materials for its third tower. He says that they will focus on sales at the Strand before plans for that project move forward.

8. San Marco Riverwalk Village

Riverwalk Hotels LLC

2,000 units in a series of five towers

Although the owner's development partner, The Related Group, pulled out of the project last April, the owner has continued to meet with city officials regarding planning requirements for the site.

9. San Marco Riverfront District

Cowford Riverfront LLC

More than 2,000 units, 42-acre site

The developer, JEA, and the Duval County School Board are continuing to meet to solve problems building a required access road to the site, says spokesman Michael Munz.

10. St. Johns Point - sounds like this one is dead

Crosswinds Communities

840 condos, 3 towers

Although property records show that Michigan-based Crosswinds still owns the property, city officials have had no contact with the property owner since they won conceptual approval from the Design Review Committee more than a year ago. Mark Shelton, an engineer for the project, said that his firm had received "no indication at all" from the developer of when it might move forward. Tirso San Jose, who heads Crosswinds in Florida, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

11. San Marco Place

Chase Properties

About 140 units in a

21-story tower

Developer Mike Balanky says that about six people have already moved into the tower, though it won't be complete for about two weeks. He said the penthouses will be complete toward the end of March. The developer has sold all of the condos except for one penthouse and another unit but Balanky said some units are on the resale market.

12. The St. John

Hines

300 condominiums

in a 51-story tower

Company vice president Walter O'Shea wrote in an e-mail that the quality and amount of sales traffic that their sales office is receiving increased significantly in January when compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. He declined to reveal the number of contracts the company has written pending an upcoming press release.

13. 122 Ocean

(Old Main Library)

Main Branch LLC

Retail and condominiums

Main Branch partner Tony Allegretti says the group has an executed contract to buy the old library from the city and plans to close in two months. He says Main Branch has a letter of intent from a grocer group and is speaking to several bars and restaurants to fill the space. The group hopes to begin construction at the time of closing and have tenants move in within a year. He said the group hasn't decided if it will wait to build condominiums on top of the building or if Main Branch will tackle both phases at once.

14. Laura Street Trio

Kuhn Cos.

Office space in three renovated historic buildings

Kuhn Cos. officials purchased the buildings from the Police and Fire Pension Fund last Friday for $6.4 million. Instead of the mixed uses that the Pension Fund planned, Kuhn Cos. will turn all three buildings into commercial office space and plans to renovate all three at once, Moore says. Kuhn Cos. will also construct a parking garage adjacent to the trio, but officials have not yet decided whether or not they should build the garage in such a way that a tower could be built on top of it at a later date. Moore says the company plans to begin the garage within three months.

15. one12 Condos

(Old Barnett Bank)

Kuhn Cos.

108 condos in a renovated tower

Kuhn vice president George Moore says that the building renovations, which are well underway, will be complete by early next year. The company will start to take reservations within the next several weeks and have an interest list of between 70 and 80 potential buyers who company officials plan to meet with individually to begin reservations. Moore says that the company is also in close discussions with a major retailer to take the bottom space of the building.

16. St. James Hotel and Residences

Bayard Spector

Condos and a hotel in a 64-story tower

Spector says that the building is currently getting planning department approvals, which might take another four to five months. He hopes to begin taking reservations by the summer. He said that the construction timeline of the building will depend on the strength of sales, but that he'll need 50 percent of the building pre-sold before construction begins.