5 Cool New Places to Live Downtown

1. Broadstone River House


 
By 2018, the former site of Crawdaddy’s Restaurant, which closed in 2004, will be transformed in to a luxury apartment community named Broadstone River House. This nearly 4-acre lot is adjacent to the Duval County School Board building and sits alongside the redeveloped Southbank Riverwalk.
 
The complex is a project by Alliance Residential Company, who would like to begin development no later than early next year. John Zeledon is the North Florida Managing Director of Alliance Residential, a Phoenix-based company. Alliance is also working with Dwell Design Studios, who recently completed the new Broadway Riverside apartments, as well as Riverwalk Jacksonville Development, who they have contracted to buy part of the property.

The complex will include up to 300 units. While there are no actual renderings yet for the floor plans, the project is envisioned as a five- to six-story structure of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. A parking structure is planned. Zeledon says that it will be similar in concept to Alliance Residential’s recently completed Broadstone Hyde Park in Tampa. This complex is an “urban-modern” designed community. The apartments include nine-foot ceilings, gourmet kitchens, and wood flooring. The amenities of this community as a whole include a pool, courtyard, fire pit and game areas. Inside amenities include a social clubroom and billiards lounge, and a health club that features a yoga studio, a spin studio and top-grade fitness equipment. Monthly rental rates there range from $1,100 for a studio up to $2,000 for the largest two-bedroom unit. It doesn’t offer three-bedroom units.