Jacksonville's Downtown Investment Authority board voted 7-0 on Oct. 21 to approve a $49.27 million, 20-year tax incentive for Fleet Landing's proposed senior-living tower at 111 Riverside Ave., the former Haskell headquarters site in Brooklyn. The vote clears a major hurdle for a project that could eventually house almost 500 seniors along the St. Johns River, though it still needs approval from Jacksonville City Council before moving forward.
The incentive is a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant, or REV Grant, that would rebate 75% of eligible incremental property taxes generated by the project over two decades, according to jaxtoday.org. As The Resident Community News reports, the grant needs sign-off from Jacksonville City Council because it deviates from the Business Investment and Development Plan's usual 50% ceiling for Brooklyn riverfront REV Grants between Riverside Avenue and the St. Johns River, DIA CEO Colin Tarbert said. Fleet Landing requested the higher 75% rate based on its not-for-profit status, per a DIA staff report cited in that account.
A Higher Ask, With Strings Attached
DIA staff recommended approval of the 75% deviation on the condition that Fleet Landing agree to certain reinvestment requirements tied to the grant, according to the same DIA staff report. The REV Grant carries no reinvestment conditions during its first 10 years, but from years 11 through 20, Fleet Landing must reinvest an amount equal to 1.33 times its grant payments back into the project to maintain its quality, per The Resident Community News. Tarbert said the high-end product is built for wealthy individuals and that its quality should be maintained throughout the term of the grant.
Cost figures for the project have shifted across reporting. The Jax Daily Record puts the estimated total at $635.58 million, requiring a minimum private capital investment of $371.56 million under the DIA incentives agreement, while The Resident Community News cites an estimated total project cost of $635 million and a construction cost of roughly $326 million. Whether particular uses within the tower are taxable will ultimately be determined by the Duval County Property Appraiser's office, the Jax Daily Record reports.
Conflicting Counts on Size and Units
Project descriptions have also varied in scale. News4JAX describes a 31-story tower with 284 senior-living residences, including 238 independent-living units and 46 units offering additional levels of care, while an earlier Jax Daily Record report described a 32-story tower with 239 independent-living residences, 28 assisted-living suites and 18 memory-care suites. The Resident Community News separately describes the project as a 26- to 31-story high-rise with approximately 284 residential units, broken down as 238 independent-living units, 28 assisted-living units and 18 memory-care units.
Whatever the final configuration, the development is intended for active, engaged adults age 62 and older, per jaxtoday.org's earlier coverage. Steve Diebenow, who represented the applicant, said the project would bring affluent, active tenants who would patronize the nearby Whole Foods and make use of the Riverwalk, San Marco and the Southbank, according to The Resident Community News. Fleet Landing CEO Josh Ashby said the project would house almost 500 affluent seniors, whose families would also use public amenities, Riverwalk parks and restaurants, and that residents could contribute to the broader community through retail activity or philanthropy.
Riverfront Access and Jobs
The proposal includes a public-facing component beyond housing. News4JAX reports the plan calls for a 5,000-square-foot public riverfront restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating and more than 3,200 square feet of street-level retail space, along with a 40-foot-wide pedestrian and bicycle corridor connecting Riverside Avenue to the Riverwalk. The Resident Community News adds that the corridor would be ADA-accessible, and that the planned retail and dining spaces are expected to generate additional economic activity.
On jobs, the Jax Daily Record's earlier reporting put the figure at more than 130 full-time jobs, while Diebenow told The Resident Community News the development would create 130 to 140 permanent jobs, including highly skilled caregiver positions. Fleet Landing also told The Resident Community News it had received more than 100 inquiries for information before marketing on the project even began, and that the Brooklyn site was chosen in part to serve seniors from Jacksonville's historic neighborhoods who prefer to stay close to home, according to Ashby.
A Second Try After a Southbank Rejection
This is not Fleet Landing's first attempt to build a senior tower in Downtown Jacksonville. The nonprofit previously proposed a 30-story residential tower at the Duval County School Board's Southbank headquarters site in 2025, but the School Board voted unanimously on Oct. 7, 2025, to reject Fleet Landing's $20 million offer, according to News4JAX. The Brooklyn proposal received conceptual approval at the Downtown Development Review Board's March meeting, per The Resident Community News.
Fleet Landing already operates a campus in Atlantic Beach and has another underway in Nocatee, a $146 million project, according to the Jax Daily Record. The organization's first campus, established by a group of military officers in 1985, remains in Atlantic Beach. Elsewhere in the region, Vicar's Landing has outlined a separate $280 million senior-living project in eTown, which the Jacksonville Business Journal has tied to a growing waitlist and rising demand from baby boomers across the area.
For now, the Brooklyn project's fate rests with Jacksonville City Council, which must weigh in before the REV Grant can take effect. The DIA board's 7-0 vote in favor sends the incentive forward, but questions over the tower's final height, unit mix and overall price tag remain unresolved as the proposal heads toward its next review.
