Tony Cho discussed the project's progress, revealing plans for a 290-unit mixed-income apartment building on Main Street as the first vertical construction. He estimated that the total investment in the North Springfield project could reach $500 million.

The third annual Black Arts Magic Holiday Market was held for the first time at the Emerald Station at 2320 N. Liberty Street on Saturday. The 100-year-old warehouse sits in Jacksonville's Phoenix Arts and Innovation District. 

Emerald Station features offices and a 10,000-square-foot event space in a repurposed warehouse.

As the ribbon hit the floor, the gathered crowd cheered on the official opening of Emerald Station and the near completion of phase one of the Phoenix Arts & Innovation District at 2320 N. Liberty St.

PHX JAX is a regenerative placemaking project activating 10 properties across 8.3 acres and a total of 120,000 square feet of adaptively repurposed warehouse spaces. The ribbon-cutting represented the culmination of collaborative innovation and activation, according to District 7 councilman Jimmy Peluso.

Reporter Keitha Nelson joined the team at PHX JAX to a seemingly once forgotten part of town to hear the plan for transformation into an arts district in Jacksonville.

Placemaking is a buzz word in the real estate and development world these days. It is a concept focused on building with the intention to revitalize and reinvigorate communities that have suffered from lack of resources or underinvestment.

City Council members Jimmy Peluso and Ju'Coby Pittman, District Director with the Office of Representative Aaron Bean Bryan Campbell, Groundwork Jacksonville CEO Kay Ehas, City Council President Ron Salem, Mayor Donna Deegan, JTA CEO Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr., Tony Cho with the Phoenix Arts and Innovation District, JTA Board Chair Debbie Buckland and City Councilmember Matt Carlucci at the March 19 press conference.

A Jacksonville neighborhood some may have never seen or known about could become the city’s art center. Developers are calling the 8.3-acre property the “Phoenix Arts and Innovation District” in North Springfield which is located north of downtown and the Eastside.

A Jacksonville neighborhood some may have never seen or known about could become the city’s art center. Developers are calling the 8.3-acre property the “Phoenix Arts and Innovation District” in North Springfield which is located north of downtown and the Eastside.

Today it’s just a wide linear green strip of overgrown vegetation serving as the border between Springfield and the Eastside. But 143 years ago, this forgotten path was a major gateway into Florida’s largest city.

Restaurateurs to pioneer Naked Kitchen in Phoenix Arts & Innovation District: Chefs Brian Nelson and Matt Johnson and Managing Partner Alexandra Bowles hope to open the restaurant in summer 2024.

Jacksonville’s Phoenix Arts & Innovation District Starts Construction With Emerald Station, Liberty Building.

Naked Kitchen restaurant signs on in Phoenix arts district. Naked Kitchen, a restaurant with plant-based and protein options and the motto “Cooking with Conscience,” is the first tenant to sign in the Future of Cities’ Phoenix Arts & Innovation District Liberty Building.

Phoenix Arts & Innovation District Begins Construction