About 665 people moved into the urban core over the past year, a figure that Downtown Vision Inc. and the Downtown Investment Authority says has the area on track toward a goal of 10,000 urban core residents.
More residential development is taking place — with the number of projects that have broken ground dwarfed by those that are still under review. Many more projects, representing 3,925 units, are under review, although some of those such as the Berkman II development’s 469 units and the American Lions high-rise proposed for the former Landing site are at the very early stages of that process.
In the heart of downtown, Augustine Development Group is renovating the Ambassador Hotel and Independent Life Insurance Building – two projects costing $47.6 million in total, and JWB Real Estate Capital is restoring the Federal Reserve Bank building, the Florida Baptist Convention building and the Porter House Mansion, which total $20.55 million in investment.