JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly five dozen Florida State College at Jacksonville students will soon call downtown home when the college opens its first student housing complex inside the historic Lerner Building along West Adams Street.
Starting this fall, the renovated 106-year-old building, which will be known as 20West, will be furnished with 58 student apartments in addition to 20West Café, a first-floor restaurant run by students and staff that will offer farm-to-table dining options.
The student housing marks a first for the college, which has historically encouraged students to find housing near the downtown campus. It comes as investors are transforming the Laura Street Trio buildings into a hotel and the nearby Barnett Bank building into apartments.
Getting the project off the ground was no easy feat, especially considering the age of the building and the number of unknowns involved, said Aundra Wallace, chief executive officer for the Downtown Investment Authority.
“When you do new construction, you understand what you’re risking,” said Wallace. “When you do historic renovations, you never know the stability of a wall or something of that nature, so you can’t plan for that and you have to have a good financial contingency.”
In this case, the financial backing came from the Jacksonville chapter of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national community development organization, contributed more than $4.5 million of the $7 million needed to complete the project.
While the bones of the building were strong, it can be difficult to undertake a major renovation without losing some of a structure’s historic value. Fortunately, contractors were able to salvage existing window frames. They also exposed the brick work inside to let the building’s character shine.
Developers hope the project’s completion will help get investors interested in the surrounding neighborhood. For Eugene Profit, managing director for Profit Investments, the project is a key step in revitalizing downtown Jacksonville as a whole.
“We think that this is a beautiful downtown environment, we think it’s undervalued and we understand some of the difficulties in getting the financing done, but we’ve seen the momentum start to pick up,” Profit said.