By Ben Cox
Jacksonville’s economic stakeholders are all in agreement that the city needs more housing. A new housing development expected to break ground this summer is hoping to address those needs.
Three homes and a brick apartment complex in the 400 block of West College Avenue have all either been torn down or are in the process of demolition. The block was purchased within the last year by Sherman Pershing, LLC, a company owned by Rabbi Rob and Lauren Thomas. Working with property development group, Garrison Group, the two entities will oversee the building of new homes on the block.
Rabbi Rob Thomas says that the hope is to target young professionals who work in education, middle management and the civil and social services to eventually be the tenants: “Anybody who lives in the community knows, we have a paucity of mid-tier, middle class priced homes. There doesn’t appear to be any development on the horizon, so we thought we could buy lots and try to start to fill some of that gap.”
Thomas says he can’t quote a price range at the moment due to current flux in the commodity markets and tariffs, “We don’t know what the cost of materials are going to be. None of our suppliers are quite sure either. What I will say on the price of the homes is that we are talking to employers; we are talking to teachers, police officers, firefighters, middle management and getting a sense of what is affordable to them and we are going to price the homes in that tier.”
Thomas says this is the foray into middle class home development that they have attempted before. He says the homes won’t stick out as far as aesthetic compared to the rest of the neighborhood, “They will be new homes. Architecturally, they will definitely fit into the neighborhood and they will each be distinct. They won’t be three homes of the same style. They will be three homes of distinct styles but of styles that fit the neighborhood. … The interiors, though, will have all of the modern conveniences and floor plans that today’s homebuyers are seeking.”
Thomas said they had crews of engineers look at the existing two-story homes and buildings that sat on the block. He says after multiple opinions, they were found to be structurally unsound or unsafe in some manner. “We plan to break ground on the new homes this build season,” Thomas says, “so that will be about mid-summer let’s say. We’ll just tear through it and get the external structure built before the [winter] weather sets in — that would include driveways, new sidewalks and some of those bits. Then, finish up on the interiors and hopefully the first unit will be done by the end of the year.”
Thomas says he hopes to grow the community’s growth and modernization beyond the downtown area. The homes will sit directly south of The JHS Bowl and just a few blocks from the square. Signs have been erected on the corner of South Church Street and West College Avenue echoing the sentiment of growth, community and home ownership. The previous homes had long been rental properties and apartments that had been retrofitted to homes built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Thomas says there are more opportunities for home development for the City of Jacksonville and they hope to be a part of it: “What we ultimately want to prove by building these high quality, nice touch, mid-tier middle class priced homes is that developers can come in and do the exact same thing in Jacksonville and make a reasonable profit at a reasonable price point. Because what we want is to have three, four or five, or 10 developers, rushing to Jacksonville for this opportunity. We need more developers doing this and we need a lot more homes that we are going to need to build on just this block.”
Thomas says he’s heard the need for housing from all of the area’s stakeholders and beyond, “We’ve heard it from potential employers — companies that would consider relocating or standing up a new outpost all have said the same thing, ‘Where would our employees live?’ We’ve got to address that.”
Potential homebuyers or those interested in the project are asked to contact Garrison Group at 217-241-0202 for more information.
