Downtown Jacksonville is seeing billions of dollars in development and millions of visitors each year, but some business owners said the next phase of growth is creating more consistent day-to-day activity outside of major events.
Downtown Jacksonville keeps growing, but can it create enough everyday activity? U.S. Navy ships including the USS Cooperstown, pass the viewing stand during the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, along the Delaware River, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Philadelphia.
Read full article: Jacksonville Navy ship USS Cooperstown deploys amid rising Middle East tensions A semi-truck caught fire early Monday morning on Heckscher Drive eastbound near Interstate 295, shutting down all lanes in the area. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Concerts and events near the Florida Theatre often bring crowds through downtown Jacksonville and into nearby restaurants like Dorothy’s.
At Dorothy’s, a Louisiana-inspired restaurant near the Florida Theatre named after Executive Chef Marvin Barnes’ grandmother, her Creole recipes helped inspire the menu. Barnes said downtown businesses survive by giving people more reasons to stay.
“I think we all work together downtown,” Barnes said while working in the kitchen. “You’ve got to work together if you plan on surviving. ” Dorothy’s opened nearly a year ago as part of downtown Jacksonville’s ongoing wave of development, which includes billions of dollars in projects planned, under construction, or proposed throughout the urban core.
“It could be better. We need more people,” Kyle Goings said, the lead bartender at Dorothy’s.
“It’s getting the facelift that’s much needed in a long time. ” Downtown Vision CEO Jake Gordon told News4JAX’s Reporter Briana Brownlee and Jesse Hanson downtown Jacksonville is still in a transition period as it adjusts to changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts in the traditional office work environment.
Gordon said downtown leaders are now focused on creating more “walk traffic,” the kind of consistent foot traffic that supports smaller businesses and encourages people to spend more time downtown outside of destination events.
“It’s the smaller places that you just have to walk by and get your coffee from,” Gordon said. “It’s really the walk traffic that we are really trying to increase. ” Goings said another way to build that consistency is by adding more family-friendly attractions and daytime destinations downtown.
“What I think we are lacking is more museums, more art, even an aquarium,” Goings said. “We need more family-friendly. ” Despite some storefronts still sitting empty downtown, Gordon said the long-term momentum is moving in the right direction.
“There are all of these cranes you are seeing and these things being built,” Gordon said. “I think you can be cynical of the street-level experience, but the future of downtown is bright. ” For many downtown businesses, the hope is that Jacksonville’s ongoing growth eventually translates into more people spending time downtown not just during major events, but throughout the week. Briana Brownlee is excited to call Jacksonville home and join the News4JAX team.
She joins us from Southwest Florida, where she reported at Fox 4 News in Fort Myers. Before making it to the Sunshine state, she got her start in Rapid City South Dakota as the morning reporter and later transitioned into the weekend Sports Anchor. Jesse Hanson earned his BA in communications from UNF in 2014 while working as a freelance videographer in Jacksonville.
He began work at Channel 4 News in 2016 and has since been an integral part of bringing stories to life on The Morning Show.
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