The developer behind Jacksonville's long-debated Lofts at Southbank project is asking the city for a third extension of its deadlines to start and finish construction, more than two years after the City Council first approved the controversial mixed-use tower. Vestcor, through an affiliate called Lofts at Southbank Ltd., is seeking a one-year extension to its economic development agreement with the city that would push the construction start deadline to September 1, 2027, and reset the project's completion deadline to May 1, 2029.
The request, laid out in City Council ordinance 2026-0740, would be the third extension to an agreement the city finalized in March 2025, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record, which first reported the filing. Notably, the proposed extension includes no further extension options beyond this round, per the same report. The project is planned for the corner of Southwest Prudential Drive and Hendricks Avenue, where it would replace a defunct restaurant with a 10-story building combining apartments, self-storage, and street-level retail, restaurants, and offices.
A Project That Took Years to Clear Council
The Lofts at Southbank has never been a simple approval. An earlier six-story version of the project failed at the City Council in June 2023 after a 9-9 tie vote, which city attorneys ruled a denial. Vestcor came back with a taller, 10-story design that added residential height and affordable units, and the council approved the project's Planned Unit Development rezoning in April 2024 on a narrow 11-8 vote.
District 5 Council Member Joe Carlucci, whose district includes the Southbank and San Marco neighborhoods, voted against the rezoning because it violated overlay rules, the outlet reported. Neighbors had also said self-storage was not permitted under the Southbank Zoning Overlay, which the City Council established in 2019 to guide development in the area and which explicitly prohibits stand-alone self-storage facilities, according to Jacksonville Today. Opponents argued the project's size and scale would be out of character with the area, while supporters countered that it would serve downtown needs for storage, apartments, and affordable housing.
Affordable Units Tied the Deal Together
The council's rezoning vote passed alongside a separate, similarly split vote approving a $6 million loan for the project at 1% interest over 18 years. That loan supports 75 units of affordable housing within the development's 100 total multifamily units. Under the project's structure, 75 units are set aside for households earning up to 60% of area median income, five units for those at or below 120% AMI, and 20 units at market rate.
The building's design, drawn up by Group 4 Design Inc., calls for a 110-foot-tall structure with ground-floor retail and restaurant space, second-floor parking, self-storage on floors three through six, and residential apartments on floors seven through 10. The Downtown Development Review Board approved the project's final design about five months after the council's April 2024 votes. City planning documents indicate the four self-storage floors will operate as a CubeSmart facility.
Permitting Grinds Forward
By January 2026, civil engineering plans prepared by Eisman & Russo Consulting Engineers had entered the city's building permit review process, with Summit Contracting Group assigned as general contractor, per the Daily Record's reporting at the time. That same month, Vestcor affiliate TVC Development Inc. petitioned the Florida Housing Finance Corporation for a waiver tied to its application for $3.2 million in 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to help finance the project — a sign of how state subsidy timelines can complicate a project's local schedule even after zoning and loan approvals are secured.
Vestcor is also seeking to align its Downtown Development Review Board final design approval with the same extended timeline as the economic development agreement. The board is scheduled to consider extending that design approval to September 1, 2027, at a meeting Thursday at the Main Jacksonville Public Library. Ownership of the project is held in part by the A. Walter Hirshberg Family Trust, Karen Hirshberg, and Atlanta-based G.I.S. Holdings.
Southbank's Other Big Build
The extension request comes as other development activity picks up nearby along the Southbank waterfront. Miami-based Related Group broke ground in May on South Bank Residences, a luxury project valued at more than $200 million that includes a 25-story residential tower at the former River City Brewery site — the first luxury high-rise on the downtown riverfront in over a decade. The contrast underscores how differently the two projects have moved through the pipeline, even though both sit along the same stretch of riverfront.
Vestcor is a familiar name in downtown Jacksonville housing, having built its “Lofts” brand across projects including Lofts at Brooklyn, Lofts at Cathedral, Lofts at LaVilla, and Lofts at Monroe. The Lofts at Southbank was valued at $38.8 million as of 2024. Whether the requested extension draws renewed objections from council members who opposed breaking the Southbank overlay in 2024 remains to be seen as the ordinance moves through the legislative process.
