{"id":279137,"date":"2026-05-21T06:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279137\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T06:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:01:32","slug":"here-we-are-after-nearly-six-years-related-group-launches-work-on-downtown-jacksonville-high-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279137\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Here we are\u2019: After nearly six years, Related Group launches work on Downtown Jacksonville high-rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

After nearly six years of planning and two trips back to the drawing board, The Related Group of Miami held a ceremonial groundbreaking May 20 for its high-rise project on the Downtown Southbank of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are simple words we\u2019ve been waiting a few years to say, but here we are,\u201d said Ron Melendez, executive vice president for Related, kicking off an event attended by the company\u2019s founding executive chairman, Jorge M. Perez, Mayor Donna Deegan, Jacksonville City Council members Ken Amaro, Joe Carlucci, Jimmy Peluso and Ron Salem, and others.<\/p>\n

Related\u2019s proposed Southbank Residences is a 25-story tower and eight-story building with an attached parking garage at 835 Museum Circle, the site of the demolished River City Brewing Co.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Patterson<\/p>\n

According to Related, the project involves a $202.7 million private investment and is the first new luxury high-rise on the Jacksonville riverfront in more than a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Designs call for 395 apartments across the two buildings, along with an outdoor pool, top-floor sky lounge and bar, ground-level restaurant, marina office, kayak area, small movie theater with seating for 15 viewers, sports lounge and other amenities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe threw everything at this, including kitchen sinks,\u201d said Related President and CEO Steve Patterson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project\u2019s progression<\/p>\n

The project emerged in 2020 as a $92 million, eight-story apartment community. In June 2021, Jacksonville City Council unanimously approved a redevelopment agreement and $18.27 million in taxpayer incentives for that version.<\/p>\n

In April 2023, Related dropped those plans in favor of a project that added a 24-story tower to the mid-rise apartment building, along with other new elements.<\/p>\n

That proposal stalled when projected construction costs came in $30 million higher than Related originally calculated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, Council approved $58.79 million in public funding for an early iteration of the current version of the project. The estimated cost was listed at $202.75 million.<\/p>\n

The incentives comprise a $39 million completion grant and a $19.79 million Recapture Enhanced Value Grant.<\/p>\n

A REV Grant is a refund on ad valorem tax revenue generated by a new development. The grant for Related is based on 75% of the increased real and personal property taxes generated at the project site over 15 years.<\/p>\n

\"Jacksonville<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan was among speakers at the May 20 groundbreaking ceremony for The Related Group’s Southbank Residences riverfront high-rise in Downtown Jacksonville. Related says a $202.7 million private investment is going into the project, plans for which call for a 25-story tower, an eight-story mid-rise, a parking garage and amenities.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ric Anderson<\/p>\n

\u2018Jacksonville will not settle\u2019<\/p>\n

Related is among the largest developers in the Southeast, having built more than 100,000 units and 17 million square feet of living space since its founding in 1979.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contractor for the Southbank project, Coastal Construction Group of South Florida, is one of Florida\u2019s largest general contractors, having completed more than 50 million square feet of vertical construction.<\/p>\n

Speakers said that attracting a developer the caliber of Related was a signal of progress in Downtown\u2019s redevelopment, with Deegan saying there was \u201cnobody I\u2019ve been more excited to bring into this city than George Perez and the Related Group.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carlucci, whose Council District 5 includes the Southbank Residences site, said the project created doubts in the community about whether it was feasible, which intensified as years passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Carlucci<\/p>\n

\u201cJacksonville has been promised things before, and we\u2019ve learned to hedge our hope. But there\u2019s good news: The conversation in this city will no longer be, \u2018Will anything ever happen Downtown?\u2019 That question is done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new question, and the only question that matters going forward, is this: Is your project good enough for Jacksonville? Because Jacksonville will not settle. We\u2019re not going to be a city that just takes anything that comes our way. We\u2019re going to become a city that expects excellence and follow-through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amaro said the city\u2019s investment in the Related project would help the entire community by helping attract more residents, business operators and visitors to Downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen your Downtown is booming, your suburbs will be OK,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Perez hinted that Related\u2019s interests in Jacksonville and Downtown weren\u2019t limited to the Southbank project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never just do one project,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to really invest and get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Permitting in review<\/p>\n

In January 2026, the Daily Record reported that The Related Group project was in city permitting review at an estimated project cost of $150 million. In permitting, the construction estimate does not include all of the costs involved and such estimates typically are adjusted as reviews progress.<\/p>\n

Plans showed the unit mix as 16 studios; 208 one-bedrooms; 127 two-bedrooms; and 43 three-bedrooms. Units were labeled either as Icon or Manor units, which are Related\u2019s brands of luxury apartments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plans also refer to the project as Icon South Bank.<\/p>\n

It would be the second project for The Related Group in Northeast Florida, following the Azure Oceanfront Residences in Jacksonville Beach. That condominium project was completed in 2024 and is sold out.<\/p>\n

\"Participants<\/p>\n

Participants in a May 20 ceremonial groundbreaking for Miami-based The Related Group’s Southbank Residences project included, from left, Mayor Donna Deegan, Related Founding Executive Chairman Jorge Perez, Jacksonville City Council member Joe Carlucci and Related President and CEO Steve Patterson.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ric Anderson<\/p>\n

Property\u2019s history<\/p>\n

Related Group, through River City Brewery LLC, paid $10 million for the property in August 2021 when it bought the River City Brewery\u2019s leasehold from the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The brewery\u2019s co-owners closed the restaurant in July 2021 after operating it for 27 years. It was demolished in 2022.<\/p>\n

The property had been home to restaurants for decades, including Lobster House, Diamondhead and Someplace Else disco club. The Lobster House was the backdrop for some scenes in the 1954 film \u201cCreature from the Black Lagoon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

RD River City Brewery LLC of Miami is the owner and developer. GAI Consultants of Jacksonville is the civil engineer. MSA Architects Inc. of Miami is the architect and Universal Engineering Sciences is the private plan review provider.<\/p>\n

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