![\"Jacksonville](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260415_Shovel_Ceremony_3_t850.jpg\" "\\"Jacksonville")
<\/p>\nA ceremonial groundbreaking April 15 signaled the start of work on the $46 million redevelopment of the former Lake Forest Elementary School property into 120 affordable apartments.<\/p>\n
Representatives of Duval County Public Schools, the city of Jacksonville, Ability Housing, Bank of America and other businesses and organizations took part in the event in North Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
The school, which closed in 2019, is at 901 Kennard St., near southwest Interstate 95 and Edgewood Avenue West.<\/p>\n
According to a news release, Ability Housing is setting aside 25% of the units for DCPS faculty and staff and will operate an on-site early learning center.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cVillage of Lake Forest is an exceptional example of true collaboration between engaged citizens, the school district and a nonprofit developer focused on changing lives through housing,\u201d said Reggie Fullwood, CEO of Ability Housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are transforming this long-dormant campus into a thriving community asset that will provide quality, affordable homes for working families and educators, and an enriching environment for our youngest neighbors to take their first educational steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan and City Council members Rahman Johnson, Chris Miller and Ju’Coby Pittman were among participants in an April 15 groundbreaking ceremony for the $46 million transformation of the former Lake Forest Elementary School property into 120 affordable apartments.<\/p>\n
The release says the apartment community will include five three-story residential buildings with one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Amenities include a community center, computer lab, library and flexible spaces for workshops, training and events.<\/p>\n
Units will be available to households earning up to 60% of the area median income, with 23 units available to households earning up to 80% AMI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the release, Bank of America is underwriting a $23 million construction mortgage, and nonprofit syndicator National Equity Fund is providing about $18.1 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity. The Community Preservation Corp. is underwriting a $10 million permanent mortgage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Funding also included a $4 million Community Development Block Grant and a $2.5 million HOME loan from the city; $2.5 million in financing from the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority; and a $500,000 impact investment from The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida through its Local Capital Pool.<\/p>\n
Construction is expected to take 18 months. PQH is the project architect. Elkins Construction LLC is the general contractor, and Kennedy Civil Services is the civil engineering firm.<\/p>\n
Leasing details will be available closer to completion.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ceremonial groundbreaking April 15 signaled the start of work on the $46 million redevelopment of the former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-233795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}