Tallest Tower Between ATL & MIA In Jax?

[jaxlongtimer]

Expect DIA to brag on this project if it ever materializes... tallest building between Atlanta and Miami in downtown Jacksonville?

Developer’s planned condo tower would be the tallest building in Downtown Jacksonville

Cross Regions Group is working with the DIA to determine how to move forward with the project.



What was once a parking lot Downtown is planned to become high-rise condos, a Jacksonville developer said July 24.

Meetings between Cross Regions Group and the Downtown Investment Authority on the project began about a year ago and are ongoing.

The developer said the high-rise, planned at a parking lot between the former Jacksonville Landing and the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront garage, would be the tallest building between Atlanta and Miami at 720 feet. The Bank of America Tower about three blocks away is 617 feet tall.

The plan includes 320 units and 35,000 square feet of restaurant/retail space, the developer told the Daily Record. The city owns the 1.6-acre land.



Cross Regions told the DIA board July 24 at a public workshop regarding waterfront properties that it hopes to avoid the request for proposal process and work directly with the DIA on a deal for the site. It plans to request a Recapture Enhanced Value grant of an unspecified amount to help fund the project but does not intend to pursue a completion grant.

A project cost is not specified.

Attorney Thomas Ingram of Sodl & Ingram, who represents Cross Regions, said the developer hasn’t decided whether to request the land at no cost.

Ingram said Cross Regions selected the site because of its “iconic” status.



Doug Smith, Cross Regions chief operating officer, said “There is much work to be done” to move forward on the project based on site constraints, including the removal of the easternmost Main Street Bridge ramp leading to Newnan Street because of the Florida Department of Transportation 50-foot setback requirements.

The FDOT estimated the cost to remove the ramp was $3.3 million in 2020. The DIA estimates it could cost $5 million and said it is unclear who is responsible for paying.

There is also a large JEA sewer line running parallel to the St. Johns River that might need to be relocated. DIA is working to determine how long that could take and for how much.

Smith said other partners will be involved as the project unfolds.

KBJ Architects Inc. of Jacksonville is the architect. Raleigh, North Carolina-based Kimley-Horn is the engineer.

DIA Board Chair Patrick Krechowski directed DIA CEO Lori Boyer to schedule a special workshop on Cross Regions’ plans in August.

Cross Regions is the developer of the Fountains at St. Johns, a 100-acre, mixed-use development anchored by an Ascension St. Vincent’s Health Center.



It is also the site of several restaurants, a 247-unit apartment community, a Jacksonville University campus and planned developments including a Home2 Suites by Hilton and the TyMe Cancer Research Institute. The 30,000-square-foot institute was awarded about $600,000 in St. Johns County incentives on July 16.

The Cross Regions site is east of another property the DIA is trying to find a developer for. That site in Riverfront Plaza, the former Jacksonville Landing, includes a city park now under construction.

Boyer said a plan by American Lions to build an apartment tower there was found to be financially not feasible.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2024/jul/24/former-jacksonville-landing-parking-lot-could-become-high-rise-condos/

[fsu813]

I'll see your Cross Regions tower, and raise you a Seaglass Tower:

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2013/12/13/1000-foot-high-observation-tower-envisioned-help-develop-shipyards/15805799007/

1000 feet or bust.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ Yes, and there is this at the end of the article...

The Cross Regions site is east of another property the DIA is trying to find a developer for. That site in Riverfront Plaza, the former Jacksonville Landing, includes a city park now under construction.

Boyer said a plan by American Lions to build an apartment tower there was found to be financially not feasible.

[jaxoNOLE]

No go. Renderings not flashy enough. They clearly don't understand Jax. 

[heights unknown]

No go. Renderings not flashy enough. They clearly don't understand Jax. 

Yeah, we are NOT MIAMI, but, this is more like it, need 4 more towers of this height (ain't my call sign "heights unknown?"); it ain't built yet?

[CityLife]

Jacksonville already has the tallest building between Miami and Atlanta. Tampa, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and St. Pete all have height restrictions from the FAA, so there isn’t even a competition.

[Ken_FSU]

Quick! Add it to the DVI Pipeline report!

[Charles Hunter]

And to be on the bleeding tech edge ... the U2C pods can drive into the building and become elevators!

The World Will Beat a Path to Jax!!
Legacy!!!

[fsu813]

Jacksonville already has the tallest building between Miami and Atlanta. Tampa, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and St. Pete all have height restrictions from the FAA, so there isn’t even a competition.

So what you're saying is that Jacksonville towers over the competition...

[heights unknown]

Expect DIA to brag on this project if it ever materializes... tallest building between Atlanta and Miami in downtown Jacksonville?

Developer’s planned condo tower would be the tallest building in Downtown Jacksonville

Cross Regions Group is working with the DIA to determine how to move forward with the project.



What was once a parking lot Downtown is planned to become high-rise condos, a Jacksonville developer said July 24.

Meetings between Cross Regions Group and the Downtown Investment Authority on the project began about a year ago and are ongoing.

The developer said the high-rise, planned at a parking lot between the former Jacksonville Landing and the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront garage, would be the tallest building between Atlanta and Miami at 720 feet. The Bank of America Tower about three blocks away is 617 feet tall.

The plan includes 320 units and 35,000 square feet of restaurant/retail space, the developer told the Daily Record. The city owns the 1.6-acre land.



Cross Regions told the DIA board July 24 at a public workshop regarding waterfront properties that it hopes to avoid the request for proposal process and work directly with the DIA on a deal for the site. It plans to request a Recapture Enhanced Value grant of an unspecified amount to help fund the project but does not intend to pursue a completion grant.

A project cost is not specified.

Attorney Thomas Ingram of Sodl & Ingram, who represents Cross Regions, said the developer hasn’t decided whether to request the land at no cost.

Ingram said Cross Regions selected the site because of its “iconic” status.



Doug Smith, Cross Regions chief operating officer, said “There is much work to be done” to move forward on the project based on site constraints, including the removal of the easternmost Main Street Bridge ramp leading to Newnan Street because of the Florida Department of Transportation 50-foot setback requirements.

The FDOT estimated the cost to remove the ramp was $3.3 million in 2020. The DIA estimates it could cost $5 million and said it is unclear who is responsible for paying.

There is also a large JEA sewer line running parallel to the St. Johns River that might need to be relocated. DIA is working to determine how long that could take and for how much.

Smith said other partners will be involved as the project unfolds.

KBJ Architects Inc. of Jacksonville is the architect. Raleigh, North Carolina-based Kimley-Horn is the engineer.

DIA Board Chair Patrick Krechowski directed DIA CEO Lori Boyer to schedule a special workshop on Cross Regions’ plans in August.

Cross Regions is the developer of the Fountains at St. Johns, a 100-acre, mixed-use development anchored by an Ascension St. Vincent’s Health Center.



It is also the site of several restaurants, a 247-unit apartment community, a Jacksonville University campus and planned developments including a Home2 Suites by Hilton and the TyMe Cancer Research Institute. The 30,000-square-foot institute was awarded about $600,000 in St. Johns County incentives on July 16.

The Cross Regions site is east of another property the DIA is trying to find a developer for. That site in Riverfront Plaza, the former Jacksonville Landing, includes a city park now under construction.

Boyer said a plan by American Lions to build an apartment tower there was found to be financially not feasible.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2024/jul/24/former-jacksonville-landing-parking-lot-could-become-high-rise-condos/

Isn't Bank of America Tower Jax still the tallest building between Miami and Atlanta?

[thelakelander]

Yes, unless people are counting Sunny Isles Beach as separate from Downtown Miami.

[Ken_FSU]

Isn't Bank of America Tower Jax still the tallest building between Miami and Atlanta?

Yep!

42 of the 45 tallest buildings in Florida are in Miami/Sunny Isles.

Tallest not in Miami is BOA Tower in Jax.

Tampa has the other two in the Top 45.

Fun fact:

Between 1900 and 1981, the title of "Tallest Building in Florida" changed hands 10 times.

5 of those buildings were in Jax.

Dyal-Upchurch in 1902.

121 Atlantic Place in 1910.

Florida Life in 1912.

Herald National Bank Building in 1913.

Independent Life Building in 1973.

[Joey Mackey]

It’s good to see DIA focus on getting the little, basic street level things right and stop chasing pie in the sky mega projects. 

[Steve]

I realize it's a pre-conceptual rendering, but that thing looks hideous at the street level.

[thelakelander]

Media doing this one an injustice. This is no where close to breaking ground, so showing highly conceptual renderings and using text like "coming soon" will basically set people up for grand disappointment.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2024/07/25/dia-developers-discuss-project-to-build-downtown-jacksonvilles-tallest-skyscraper/