Cathedral Hill’s big housing gamble is officially at the halfway mark. A downtown nonprofit says it is midstream on a plan to add 2,500 homes to the neighborhood, and a newly proposed 85-unit mixed-income development on Duval Street is the latest project helping push that tally upward. The building, backed by Cathedral District Jacksonville in partnership with Miami-based Housing Trust Group, would bring a mix of workforce and market-rate apartments into the 36-block district anchored by several historic churches.
The update was first detailed by the Jacksonville Business Journal, which reported that the nonprofit described itself as “halfway” to the 2,500-home target after rolling out the Duval 212 concept. That coverage puts Duval 212 squarely in the context of Cathedral District Jacksonville’s broader effort to significantly expand downtown’s housing supply.
Duval 212: What the proposal includes
City and Downtown Investment Authority filings list the site as three adjacent parcels along E. Duval Street and describe plans for an 85-unit, mixed-income apartment building with 75 workforce units and 10 market-rate units. The project would include about 1,200 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, a two-level structured parking garage with roughly 90 spaces, and resident amenities such as a lobby, fitness center, lounge and outdoor pool. Total development costs are pegged at between $36.4 million and $36.5 million. According to the Downtown Investment Authority, the partners created Duval 212 LLC to pursue Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and an Affordable Housing Support Loan that would be tied to the transfer of the city-owned parcels.
Where the new units fit in the district's buildout
Cathedral District Jacksonville has been shepherding a steady stream of residential projects, ranging from the 120-unit Lofts at Cathedral to smaller adaptive-reuse infill, as part of a master development plan for the 36-block Cathedral Hill neighborhood. The group’s planning materials and State of the District reports show dozens of apartments already under construction or in financing and outline long-term goals to shift the overall housing mix downtown. CDJ leaders say the partnership with Housing Trust Group is designed to keep units affordable while tying new growth to the district’s historic civic and religious anchors.
Next steps and timeline
The development team plans to seek state tax credits and will apply for a Downtown Investment Authority Affordable Housing Support Loan as part of its funding package. City filings and media reporting indicate that construction could begin roughly 12 months after a redevelopment agreement is finalized, with substantial completion expected about 24 months after work starts. The Downtown Investment Authority and local coverage project that, if the building goes up as proposed, it could generate several million dollars in property tax revenue over the next two decades. The Jacksonville Daily Record reviewed the DIA materials and reported on the staffing and revenue estimates.
If approved, Duval 212 would notch another incremental win in the effort to repopulate downtown and grow workforce housing near central transit and cultural hubs. Local leaders say using public land and a nonprofit-led development model is one way the city is trying to move affordable, mixed-income housing into the urban core a bit faster.
