Downtown Investment Authority symposium to bring more living spaces to downtown

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Downtown Investment Authority along with expert panelists met at the Lark on Thursday to talk about repurposing empty office spaces.

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That would then provide more apartments and opportunities for people to live, work and play downtown.

“The Jacksonville population is growing by approximately 1.3% per year or 20,000 residents annually and that growth rate is expected to continue into the foreseeable future,” said DIA CEO, Lori Boyer.

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The Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer said those projects are becoming increasingly common in other large metropolitan areas.

According to the DIA, in cities across the U.S., covid-related vacancies in commercial office spaces are creating new opportunities to convert those into residential spaces.

Boyer said the current downtown office vacancy rate is 26.3%.

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With 57% of downtown employees present in the office, compared to 43% who work entirely from a remote location or some kind of a hybrid shift.

But a main topic of conversation was how conversions like those will meet the city’s housing needs.

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“Downtown is focused on accommodating as much of that demand as possible,” said Boyer. “We believe today we’ll set the stage for some exciting new opportunities.”

These are all just conversations right now,  once we learn when steps will be taken on any conversion projects, Action News Jax will update you.

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