Community members talk Downtown development, growth across Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As city leaders look at current and future plans to enhance Downtown Jacksonville, people are speaking out with what they envision for the River City.

Action News Jax told you about the 2022 State of Downtown Report that highlighted the nearly $5 billion in development projects in the pipeline.

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Sherry Magill is retired now, but worked Downtown for 30 years.

“I love urban space -- the collection of people and diversity, activity and energy,” Magill said.

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She said affordable housing is the key to attracting people to Downtown, as well as green space where people can sit, relax and just talk to one another.

“I’m happy for my tax money to be subsidizing rents, building up affordable rental apartments and a park,” Magill said.

Others worry about the effects of too many people in the area.

“They don’t need all this construction,” said Mary McKenna. “There’s going to be more cars and it’s going to be a lot of gridlock.”

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Peter Palmere works Downtown.

“There’s a lot going on,” Palmere said. “It’s nice. It’s nice to see the growth happening. It’s a little tough when you got to drive into work, but it’s really to see all the businesses coming.”

Palmere said he would like to see more park space and is looking forward to the projects slated to do just that.

“Now, you can see it all actually changing,” Palmere said. “It’s really nice to see all the development coming and people coming in. It’s actually great. I love it when I see all this actually happening from what it was before.”

The 2022 State of Downtown Report shows that around 7,500 people call Downtown home, but city leaders expect that number to grow to more than 16,000 people.

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CLICK HERE for a list of Downtown projects in various stages of completion.

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