Jacksonville breaks ground on city’s first affordable housing community geared toward the military

Normandy Cove, a 144-unit affordable housing development for veterans and active-duty service members, is set to transform Jacksonville’s Westside.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A woman’s voice singing the national anthem opened Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony for Normandy Cove, a fitting start for a project built entirely around honoring service to our country.

“A ceremony focused on those who served — now being served,” is exactly how it felt to those in attendance.

Normandy Cove will bring 144 affordable apartments to Jacksonville’s Westside, with half of the units reserved for active-duty service members and veterans, including a dedicated set-aside for veterans experiencing homelessness. It marks Housing Trust Group’s first affordable housing development in the Jacksonville area.

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Veteran Lynn Geiser is CEO of Hope4Veterans, one of the organizations partnering on the project.

“This is very, very important, and it’s personal to me because I used to be homeless myself,” Geiser said.

Jason Larson, senior vice president of development with Housing Trust Group, said the location wasn’t a coincidence.

“This development was always going to be geared towards military veterans and active duty, so obviously Jacksonville is a major military town with multiple bases — NAS Jacksonville and Mayport,” Larson said.

The site sits about six miles from NAS Jacksonville, with easy access to I-295 and I-10, nearby retail along Normandy Boulevard, and a high school next door. Housing Trust Group worked with the Duval County School Board to secure an easement through the adjacent Edward H. White High School property to make the development possible.

Apartments will be reserved for income-qualifying residents earning 30%, 60%, and 70% of the area median income, with monthly rents ranging from approximately $470 to $1,716. Larson says all 144 units will be income-restricted, and only about 10% of units will sit at that higher end of the rent range.

“All the way from 30% AMI, we have a few units there up to 70% AMI. So it’s a range of rental incomes from below $500 a month to over $1,200,” Larson said.

The project carries an estimated cost of around $60 million, or roughly $350,000 per unit, according to Larson. Financing includes $20.8 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, a $27.5 million construction loan from TD Bank, a $16.4 million permanent loan from Berkadia through Freddie Mac, an $11 million State Apartment Incentive Loan, and additional gap funding from the City of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority.

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said that city funding was essential to getting this project off the ground.

“They really should not have to worry about whether they can afford housing when they come back from serving our country, so I’m very thankful we have this for them. They deserve it,” Deegan said.

Beyond the apartments themselves, the development will include a swimming pool, fitness center, business center, multipurpose clubhouse, and dedicated office space for veteran service providers. Geiser says those supportive services matter just as much as the housing.

“It’s a savior,” she said. 

For Geiser, the project also represents something deeply personal, a glimpse at what could have changed her own path years ago.

“It would have saved a lot of heartbreak,” she said.

Larson said leasing typically moves quickly for developments like this one, with most Housing Trust Group properties fully leased within two months of receiving final certificates of occupancy. He expects similar demand here, given how high market rents have climbed in the area; some neighborhoods in Jacksonville now see rents exceed $2,000 a month.

Normandy Cove is expected to be move-in ready by the first quarter of 2027. A second phase is already planned, which would add 99 more affordable units, bringing the total development to 243 homes.