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BUSINESS & LEGAL NEWS IN BAKER, CLAY, DUVAL, NASSAU AND ST. JOHNS COUNTIES
AFFORDABLE HOUSING: FACTS AND FRICTION
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RESTAURANTS
Alien Taco & Tequila Bar landing in Jacksonville PAGE 3
BISCAYNE APARTMENTS BRING PROTESTS Rendering provided by Lofty Asset Management
Jacksonville’s poor and working families need more options, but solutions can spark backlash.
Lofty Asset Management is developing a workforce housing development at 10939 Biscayne Blvd. in North Jacksonville. The Jacksonville City Council approved rezoning for the project amid opposition from neighbors, who raised concerns about traffic, crime and the appearance of the development, which would rent from $1,000 to $1,500 a month.
$1,781 8.2% Median Jacksonville rent in February 2024.
BY RIC ANDERSON STAFF WRITER
O
ver two Tuesday nights in February, the Jacksonville City Council engaged in one of its more contentious debates since the board was reshuffled in last year’s elections. The subject was a proposed workforce housing development at 10939 Biscayne Blvd. On an undeveloped 5.4-acre property, developer Lisa Massis of Lofty Asset Management requested rezoning to allow for construction of a two-story multifamily building. In hearings that together lasted five and a half hours, Council members heard complaints about the project from dozens of residents from the predominantly Black community surrounding the site. Speaker after speaker called the project unattractive and said it would bring crime and trash to the neighborhood while reducing their property values. Massis, her team and her attorney, state Rep. Wyman Duggan, countered that the project would provide durable, sustainable and safe housing at below-market rates to working families in Northwest and North Jacksonville. By the time the Council approved rezoning for the project on
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Oak St. Health clinics coming to pair of area CVS stores PAGE 8
The year-over-year increase in rents.
According to rent.com, Jacksonville saw the biggest rent increase in the South over the past year. By comparison, monthly rents in Orlando rose 6.59% to $2,221 and Virginia Beach, Virginia, increased 5.6% to $1,751.
MORE ON RENTS According to an August 2023 report from Mayor Donna Deegan’s affordable housing subcommittee: 40% of Jacksonville households earn incomes below 80% of the area median income, the cutoff between low- and moderate-income housing. 38% of households, or 147,200 total, were on the Jacksonville Housing Authority’s waiting list for subsidized housing. Jacksonville is short more than 35,000 units of affordable housing.
REAL ESTATE
Top 10 home sales of week Oceanfront three-story home in Fernandina Beach with pool and dune walkover sold for $5 million. PAGE 12 LAW & THE COURTS
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THE MATHIS REPORT
Legal insights from the top THE BASCH REPORT
ParkerVision reports a rare profit on lawsuit windfall The Jacksonville-based developer of wireless technology says it ended 2023 with net income of $9.5 million, or 8 cents per share, after winning a $25 million lawsuit settlement. PAGE 5
4th Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson, Public Defender Charlie Cofer and Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters talk law enforcement with Jacksonville Bar Association members. PAGE 9
VOLUME 111, NO. 20 | TWO SECTIONS | PUBLISHED SINCE 1912